Because of You
by Imaginationqueen87
Summary: Kira's relationship with her mother has imploded and now the authorities are involved. What will the rangers do now that they are at risk of losing one of their own? No KiraXTommy romance PERIOD. Pairing KiraxTrent and some TommyxHayley [Rating increased due to language in chapter 7]
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers Dino Thunder

A/N: this is a sequel to the stories "Hope" and "Who Saves the Hero"

* * *

_**Because of You**_

Tommy sighed as he entered his classroom for another day of teaching. He enjoyed his job to no end, but today he was feeling a little under the weather. His doctor had diagnosed him with a sinus infection that past Saturday, and he was still feeling most of the symptoms that had made him miserable the entire weekend. It had been only by some kind of miracle he was able to grade his recent assignments and post his grades.

The students started to trickle in for his first class of the day, he knew they'd be rushing in right before the tardy bell, but that was normal for high school, he'd done it when he was in high school. While he normally would never admit it, he'd had way too much practice skating in just seconds before the tardy bell, a skill his friends never let him live down. He had now come to the conclusion that there was one in every group, having seen Conner McKnight pulling a lot of his old stunts, but as a soccer player Conner was a marginally faster runner than Tommy had ever been as a teenager; meaning he was better equipped to beat the bell.

The classes seemed to move at a snail's pace, especially since all Tommy really wanted to do was sleep. During the previous night, his congestion was enough that sleep had seemed impossible. The pressure behind his eyes had also seemed too much to handle and he really just wanted to sleep. Then his class with the rangers came around and he dreaded it as he was sure Trent or Kira would realize he was sick. He had managed to, by some miracle; avoid them for the past few days. Hayley had passed them the message that he was under the weather and needed time to rest. He would have to remember to thank her for taking on Conner and Ethan over that. She had brought him a "get well soon" card that the four teenagers insisted on him having, and it had the effect of brightening his day as well as reminding him that all four of them really cared about him. Even if some grated at his last nerve from time to time.

He sat back in his chair to wait and attempt to predict which ranger would be first.

Trent came in first; that was typical. He reminded Tommy of a younger version of himself when it came to personality, though Trent was more reliable at being in class on time, or more often than not, early. Then Tommy noticed something that instantly sent up a red flag: Kira and Trent often arrived within moments of each other. It was as if they were secretly competing to see who could get to this particular class first, and the results seemed inconclusive from Tommy's perspective. It seemed that Trent got in first just as often as Kira beat him in. He brushed it off; Kira might be running a little late. Then he braced himself. Trent was one of the two that would notice how miserable he was, but then he remembered Trent was the last one to say anything in public. He'd wait until they could speak privately to ask any personal questions out of respect.

Ethan came in moments later, and Tommy began to get a bit concerned, Ethan was never in before Kira.

Ethan took one look at Tommy and winced.

"No offence Dr. O, but you look like crap."

Tommy shot the young genius the best glare he could muster at the moment; which barely managed to not look completely pathetic.

"None taken," he drawled, "Trust me, Ethan, I feel worse than I look."

This drew a wince from both Ethan and Trent.

"I really hope you feel better soon," Trent said sincerely.

Tommy honestly hoped the same, and thanked Trent for once again voicing his well wishes. From the moment he saw the card he figure that it was initially either Trent or Kira's idea; not that Conner and Ethan lacked sympathy or anything, it just didn't seem their style to use greeting cards to get a message across to another person.

Cassidy came in a few minutes later and started to comment on his appearance, but a better-composed glare stopped her in her tracks. She, like the rest of the class, hadn't really known what was going on with him and his current appearance came as a small surprise.

He'd been absent Monday due to the fact that he really wasn't up to teaching, and after one call to H.R. and a doctor's note, he got the sick day he needed desperately. Really, he could have taken at least one more, maybe two if he had spun it right, but he really could not afford to take that many days after his stint stuck in morph.

Kira came in just moments before Conner did, and her behavior sent off alarm bells in Tommy's mind. She didn't sit with the other rangers, and was doing her best to hide her face. Tommy could feel his stomach churning, he had no idea what was going on with Kira; and after all he had heard about her mom he had a bad feeling the woman was involved. He got to the lesson for the day and the class went by agonizingly slow, even more so than any other that day. He wanted to have a private chat with Kira; to find out exactly what was going on, but he had a bad feeling that wouldn't happen until after school. He had no clue what would be dropped in his lap at the end of the day that would change his life and Kira's.

He finished class and tried his best to catch up to Kira, but she was out the door and gone before he could really make a move. He groaned knowing that he would not catch her feeling the way that he did, and he knew this would bother him the rest of the day.

What was going on with her? Why wouldn't she tell him? He knew that under normal circumstances she would tell him just about anything that was bothering her.

He took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose; this day had just gone from bad to worse.

Final period rolled around and Tommy was counting the seconds until he could go home, take some meds and go back to his nice comfy bed. Then something shattered those plans.

Class ended, and Tommy was almost ready to walk out the door when his classroom phone began to ring.

"Hello?" he asked, his voice not quite normal due to the congestion. The person on the other end requested that he come to a different classroom and cited that Kira had asked for him.

_To Be Continued…_


	2. Chapter 2

A/n: this chapter has not been edited to the point where I would like it to be, my editor is still ill but I feel like I have made you wait long enough for this, please enjoy.

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Kira sat in the back of the classroom doing her best to hide her face from Tommy. She had barely escaped him when she came in, but she figured she would have to face him eventually. She just wanted to do so on her own terms, not his.

Kira was, honestly, still reeling from the night's events; her mother had gotten drunk before, but that night was the worst. She had come home plastered, and in a rage, she was looking for a fight, but Kira wanted no part of that. She tried to avoid her mom, but that only seemed to make things worse. Her mother had gotten in her face over something normally considered trivial, and before Kira could comprehend what was happening punched her in the face blackening her left eye and leaving a bruise on her cheek.

Kira's math teacher Mrs. Sanchez was a very observant woman, and noticed that Kira was not acting like her usual self, but she decided not to bring it up in front of the class. Instead she walked over to Kira's desk and placed a small note on the desk requesting that she stay after class.

Kira looked at the note and felt her stomach drop to the floor. She had expected this from Tommy, but not from Mrs. Sanchez. Then she remembered Tommy was still sick and not at the top of his game.

Class ended and Kira dutifully stayed in her seat until everyone had left before going to the teacher's desk while still trying to hide her bruised face, but knowing that now she was failing miserably.

"Kira…what happened to your face?" Mrs. Sanchez sounded shocked, and Kira wasn't surprised, she knew it looked bad.

"I… I can't say." She replied, edging towards the door worried about what would happen if the truth came out.

"Kira, please, tell me, I can't do anything if you don't tell me what happened." Claudia Sanchez was growing more concerned by the moment. She had no idea about Kira's home life, but she had the idea that Kira was struck by a parent or someone that she feared.

"I really can't say, she…" Kira trailed off, realizing what she was about to say.

"Kira, if this is someone in your family I will do everything in my power to protect you." Claudia said. "But I need to know what happened"

Claudia stood and placed a hand on Kira's shoulder, "Is there anyone that you want here? Anyone that would make you feel more comfortable saying what happened?"

Claudia was grasping at straws now and she knew it, but she had to get the answers from Kira.

"Dr. Oliver, he's my science teacher." She blurted without even thinking. She tried to stop herself, but the words were already out of her mouth. She did feel more comfortable and confident around Tommy, as she knew he would protect her. She also knew she would have to tell him eventually, so she might as well get it over with now.

"Doctor Thomas Oliver?" Claudia asked making sure she had the right teacher, even though there was only one teacher named Oliver in the entire school.

"Yes, that's him."

Claudia called the front office, and within a few minutes, Tommy arrived in the room looking very worried. That look turned to one of shock then anger in seconds when he got his first really good look at Kira's face.

"Kira, what happened?" he asked, practically every sinus infection symptom forgotten, trumped by the gut clenching reality he didn't want to believe was true. Someone had struck Kira, and hard by the look of it. Her face was bruised, her eye blackened and Tommy felt sick in an entirely different way. He was sure her mother was involved in this, but by this point needed her reply. He bit his lip, he had never wanted to be more wrong in his life.

Kira sighed, tears falling down her cheeks.

"My mom came home completely wasted last night…" she said her voice shaky. "… we got into an argument as usual, only… only this time she hit me."

Claudia was stunned and she noticed that Tommy looked furious and Claudia had a bad feeling that he knew more than he let on about Kira's home life.

Tommy felt like someone had dropped a bolder in his stomach. In this situation, he hated being right with a passion he couldn't even express. He hadn't wanted this for Kira; she deserved so much better than what life had thrown at her.

"You knew, didn't you?" Claudia asked him. She had seen the emotions that had flashed through Tommy's dark eyes, and she was quickly realizing that Tommy really cared about his students, about Kira.

"When I saw that bruise I had a good idea, but I was hoping I was wrong." Tommy sighed as he gave Kira's shoulder a gentle squeeze. It was the most comforting gesture he dared act out on school grounds. He had embraced her before, but never on campus and this evening would be no exception. She'd need the comfort of an embrace; of knowing he wasn't going anywhere. He could tell she already knew they had to call CPS, and maybe it was best they did for her sake.

Kira was in tears for various reasons; one of which was the sheer relief of getting all of that off her chest to the first man she had ever completely trusted. She had initially found trusting Tommy to be difficult, but quickly realized he was different from any other man she had ever dealt with. He didn't back down when times got rough. The few times she tried to push him away; he didn't let her, as he knew she needed someone to support her, even if he didn't always know why. Eventually she found that it was too tiring to keep the walls up against someone that was just as stubborn as she was. She also learned when she finally decided to confide in Tommy that he would keep her secrets and step up to help her and support her emotionally when she needed it.

The next few hours were a whirlwind of telling and retelling her story and explaining that her mother often drank, but this was the first time she had gotten violent with her daughter.

Kira was exhausted when the ordeal was finally over, but Tommy was worried because he had no idea where Kira would end up; it had become abundantly clear she would not be allowed to go home.

"The foster homes that take girls her age are full, and I really don't want to put a 17 year old girl in an orphanage." The social worker, Paige Mathews, sighed to the sheriff. She was running low on options and it was getting late. She looked to Kira, who had nodded off on a small loveseat in the sheriff's the office and a sympathetic officer had come along and draped an emergency blanket over her. It was becoming apparent that Kira hadn't slept well the night before and with the story she told, no one present could blame her. Then she noticed Tommy who sat near Kira, she had noticed him staying extremely close to Kira through this entire process and supporting her as best he could.

Tommy had overheard the dilemma Paige had on her hands, and as he looked at Kira, he began to consider the options Paige had on her plate. Each seemed worse than the last until he knew what had to be done.

"I'll take her in." He said his tone even, but his face said it all. This was his child in every way that mattered, and he'd do what he had to in order to insure her safety and wellbeing.

Claudia looked Tommy over. She wasn't familiar with the science teacher, but the way he had reacted to what happened to Kira and had since handled the situation, and his having volunteered to be her advocate where the police were concerned made Claudia wonder about him; about what he felt about this young girl. This answered her questions about him: he cared deeply for her but there was no need to worry that care was familial, she was like a daughter or younger sister that needed his protection and support.

Paige seemed to look through her paperwork.

"Dr. Oliver, from what I see here, you seem to have a definite relationship with Kira she really does trust you more than I might have a teacher when I was her age, but I never saw anything like what she has. She needed someone to be her supporter and I can definitely see where you've filled that role in her life, and what she saw in you that makes her feel like she can turn to you for anything. I will have to check, but at this point, looking at what information I have I don't see any reason why that I wouldn't be allowed to house her with you." Paige said "To be honest, that is the best option I've heard. She's in a vulnerable place emotionally and needs someone who not only knows her best interest, but is willing to stand up for her."

Paige stepped out of the room, apparently going to check with her supervisor and those who could make the ruling that she could or couldn't stay with Tommy.

Tommy sat back in his chair with a huff of breath; his sinuses were protesting now more than they had in days, reminding him that he had missed his medication for the infection. That was just perfect.

"Are you okay?" a voice asked. It was the teacher that had finally been able call Kira out on her injury and helped him get her talking, Claudia.

"It's nothing." He replied.

Claudia gave him a glare that read she clearly didn't believe that.

"I have a sinus infection, I'm fine."

Claudia winced but decided it was best to change the subject as they left the room to let Kira sleep.

"You really care about her, don't you?"

"From the first day I knew she was different, I had no way of knowing what went on at home, but I knew there had to be a reason she kept so much so close to her chest. She never spoke of her father or really of her family at all. Then after a while of getting to know her, talking to her and showing her that I cared about her as a person, she opened up to me and told me her father had walked out when she was about 7 years old and that she and her mom had issues. She has called me on several occasions when her mother got drunk and obnoxious and she needed someone sane and sober to talk with. Her mom doesn't care about her music she hasn't been to a single one of her concerts at Hayley's Cyberspace, and I've only missed one and that was due to circumstances beyond my control." Tommy leaned back against the wall.

"You saw that she needed someone and stepped up to be that someone, you're a rare man, Dr. Oliver."

"Please, call me Tommy."

"Tommy," Claudia smiled slightly. "I've actually heard about you from a lot of the students, you seem to make an impression on them. The world needs more teachers like you."

They looked up as Paige came over to them with the verdict.

**To Be Continued…**

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*Hides behind Tommy* Please don't throw things I know the cliffhanger is evil I will try to post the next chapter as soon as possible.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: This story was not edited at all, I have given up trying to get back in touch with my past editor. She has quit responding and disappeared from the site where I met her T_T. I did my best to edit this but I'll leave the success of that up to you. I don't know if I said this before but I actually don't own Paige Mathews she's a borrow from Charmed.

* * *

Tommy's stomach was tied in knots as Paige got closer, he could only hope that he got the go ahead to take Kira home.

"Well I have good news and bad news, the bad news is there will be welfare check ins every once in a while but the good news is your request was approved Kira can stay with you until the trial and we will judge if she can remain permanently from there."

Tommy let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding; he could deal with a social worker checking in as long as Kira was safe with him.

"That's fine" he replied relieved that he was able to get approval so quickly.

Paige looked at Tommy as Claudia excused herself feeling that her presence was no longer required.

"She needs a lot of support, this could have a crushing effect on her self-esteem," Paige sighed.

"I know but I'm willing to do whatever I can to help her."

"She's lucky to have someone like you in her life, it's rare that kids like her have the kind of support she has or any at all really." Paige sighed, "I wish I could say otherwise but really this case has been the exception to any ideas we have about these kinds of cases."

Tommy sighed more relieved than ever that he had the ability to take care of Kira and the space to have her live in his home.

He said good-bye to Paige and went to get Kira. He was glad that Claudia had let her sleep, she could use the rest but he knew that they needed to get something to eat before they got to his house and went to bed which now sounded more appealing than ever and he could tell Kira agreed with him.

"Kira, it's time to wake up." He said shaking her shoulder gently.

Kira looked at him still very much asleep.

"So where am I going?" she asked.

"You're staying with me, at least for now." Tommy replied.

"Okay," he knew she liked this idea even if her drowsy response showed no enthusiasm whatsoever. He figured she would begin to get it once she woke up a little better and her brain caught up to what she had just been told.

Kira sat up, hazel eyes unfocused, she was just waking and Tommy knew that eventually she would figure out exactly what this new development meant. She wouldn't have to leave her friends, and she could continue to perform at Hayley's Cyberspace.

Tommy sat beside Kira and waited for her to wake up fully. This was going to be a big adjustment, for her especially but one they welcomed, she needed this change, needed someone who would be there for her consistently and that was him.

Kira looked at Tommy as what he said finally set in what he'd said. She was staying in a place she was familiar with, where she felt safe. She let out a breath as the relief hit, she wouldn't have to convince someone to let her go to Hayley's to perform, let her go visit her friends, including Tommy himself on a near daily basis, she would be with him. He already knew more of her secrets than anyone else ever did and she knew he would hold them in complete confidence as he has for months. Sure some would have to come to light should this go to trial but she knew that everything would be okay now.

Tommy gave her shoulder a squeeze as it became obvious she was getting what was going on.

"So now what…?" she asked.

"Home, maybe get something to eat and we get some rest. This has been a _long_ day" Tommy sighed.

"No kidding, how long was I asleep?" Kira asked running her fingers through her hair to get the tangles out.

"At least half an hour, maybe longer, you were asleep when I got in here from the interview room and I saw no point in waking you up. The interviews were over for today, there may be more later on."

"Great, another afternoon spent here." Kira muttered, she hadn't wanted to confess this but she knew it would have come out eventually. She had just hoped that she had been able to tell Tommy in private about what was going on. She then thought about it and realized that maybe it was best she took that dilemma out of Tommy's hands.

Kira put her face in her hands realizing this meant she wouldn't see her mom again, not on good terms anyway. Then again maybe not being around her mom was for the best, after this there was a whole world of other things that could happen that Kira didn't even want to think about.

Kira felt a hand on her back and realized that it was Tommy; he had to know how conflicted her heart was at that moment. She was so happy to be moving in with him but there was some part of her that was hoping to reconcile with her mom and find that relationship with her that other girls had with their moms. That last part was completely crushed.

* * *

Paige watched through the window as Tommy pulled Kira into his arms. She saw the powerless look in his eyes, the one that wanted to make all the pain Kira was feeling stop. The part that never wanted it to come to this, had wanted Kira to be able to come to some peaceful agreement with her mom. He volunteered to keep her out of the orphanages, from the hold of foster care and what he felt would crush her in her vulnerable state.

Paige sighed as Kira leaned her head on Tommy's shoulder like a child seeking comfort and Tommy willingly held her, obliged her with the comfort she desperately needed despite the fact that it didn't take a genius to tell he didn't feel well. He swallowed the pain and discomfort he felt in a selfless show of strength for her, for the girl that might as well be his daughter.

"He's a rare find isn't he, it's obvious he's sick and yet he has tried to hide it every moment. He puts up a front of strength despite what he feels. I didn't know what to make of him until I really spoke to him." Jennifer Rodriguez said.

"Me either," Paige agreed, "We're trained to be suspicious when a male takes a lot of interest in a female student, but this case, he was her confidant, her friend. She trusted him with her every secret and he holds them in the strictest confidence because he knows she expects nothing less. He… he wanted different for her, wanted her to be able to find peace with her mom, not have to leave her." Paige sighed sadly "In his heart that's his child, she'll be safe with him."

"She gives regular concerts at a cybercafé not too far from here and he's only missed one in months and that wasn't by choice. Sad part is her own mother hasn't gone to see her daughter perform once in that same time period." Jennifer added. "As a mom I find that despicable that Kira's mother couldn't find the time in her life to be there to watch her daughter live her dream and yet her science teacher was there every week without fail to cheer her on. I think it showed where her priorities were."

"Yeah, not with her child," Paige said ruefully as Tommy and Kira left. "He probably knows Kira better than her mom ever has, he's heard her every song more than once and saw her through the ups and downs that make up her life, the moments her mom should have helped her through he did and all without complaint. All of the things he shouldn't have had to do he did and volunteered to keep doing because this, she, means more to him than anything."

"She's like his child, she reached out to him looking for a parent that gave a damn, and he reached back, why? He claims that he saw a need and he stepped up to fill it, I don't know." An investigator, Derek, said

"I believe him," Jennifer said "Just look in those eyes, he's hurting, seeing her in pain genuinely hurts him and he wants to make it all stop. He's hugged her several times, but not in a romantic way, it's like a father holding his daughter or maybe an older brother who steps up when his sister is in pain, he didn't want this outcome for her, he derives no pleasure from taking her in. Sure he's more than happy to do it because he knows that's best for her, but really he wanted a different outcome for her and her mom but as much as he hoped something in his heart told him that wouldn't happen."

"Has anyone besides me noticed that she has not shed one tear since she got here?" Derek asked.

"She's in shock, her mom probably has her convinced crying is a sign of weakness or something. I've seen a few tears but I figure she'll fall apart when they get to his house." Paige sighed, "My sister does that, she puts up a front and doesn't cry in public but will fall completely apart when she crosses the threshold of her bedroom. I may not be a mom but I'd defiantly step in if one of my sisters treated their child like this woman did her daughter."

"If you were my sister I'd hope you would step in if I started turning into this woman." Jennifer sighed, "I just got the report from the interviewer that spoke to the mother. She confessed to what happened. She said she had thought she had dreamed it up until the officer showed up and then in a moment of shocked sobriety she confessed that it did happen."

Paige's jaw hit the floor.

"She confessed?" she echoed.

"Yes, apparently the mother has come to the stark reality that she is an alcoholic and now a danger to Kira and, in the most motherly thing I think this woman has done, said she would sign away her maternal rights willingly. She found out that Dr. Oliver volunteered to take Kira and she wants to know if he would be opposed to making the arrangement permanent." Jennifer sighed, "She says she wants to be a better mom and if letting Kira go is the best thing for her, she's willing to do it."

"Wow, where was all this motherly love when she was hurting her daughter?" Paige asked.

"I don't know, but the higher ups are saying we wait until morning to take this news to Dr. Oliver and Kira."

To Be Continued…


	4. Chapter 4

Tommy pulled into his own driveway with a soft sigh then looked over to Kira who had dozed off somewhere along the way. He couldn't very well blame her for being exhausted, the day had been long and apparently she hadn't slept that well the night before. He understood that things were hard for her, a mom was supposed to be the person that protected her and, in Kira's case, her mother had been the one to hurt her.

Kira woke when he cut the engine off, which saved him the trouble of waking her for a second time that evening. They entered the house and Kira headed to the bedroom she had used on occasion when circumstances forced the rangers to remain in the house. The assumed idea was this would become her permanent bedroom once they could get her belongings from her mother's home.

Tommy went into the kitchen to work on grading papers only stopping at the bathroom to take his meds that he should have taken earlier. At this point it was hours late but even the doctor had told him better late than never.

He got to the kitchen and could tell Hayley had been there by the container of soup in the middle of the table and the note sitting with it. She and the rangers were clueless as to what happened over the course of that afternoon and Tommy didn't look forward to telling them. He was pretty sure he could predict Conner and Ethan's reactions to the day's events but Trent was a wildcard. Tommy had no doubt Trent had feelings for Kira, loved her dearly in fact and this would not go over well with the white ranger.

Tommy put the soup in the microwave having focused more on getting something in Kira and getting her to bed than getting anything for himself. He then sighed as the phone rang, he answered with a tired hello.

"_Tommy, are you okay_?" Hayley asked the exhaustion in his voice sending up red flags for the tech advisor.

"Define 'okay'," he replied looking up at the celling the events of the day crashing down on him like a wave he never saw coming.

"_Oh man, that isn't good,_" Hayley replied "_what happened?_" Her voice was laced with worry.

"Kira's mom hit her last night; she now has a bruised face and blackened eye." Tommy replied, "She also has a CPS file".

"_Oh God, Tommy this is not good, where is she now?_" Hayley was obviously extremely worried about Kira as she seemed as much a parent to Kira as Tommy did.

"She's upstairs." He replied, "I think she went to bed, she's exhausted Hayley."

"_I'm not surprised,_" Hayley sighed, "_The guys aren't going to take this well, Tommy, you know that. They were worried about her today because she didn't show up at the café or the command center. Yes we were there by the way; Trent helped me keep Conner and Ethan from trashing the house._"

"I could tell you were here, not the guys. I know, I'm really worried what Trent will do, he's too much like me and I'd want to confront her mom if I were in his place and believe me the outcome would not be good." Tommy sighed leaning on the counter as the microwave told him the soup was finished.

"_You have a point there, Trent really does care for Kira; he's not going to take kindly to her being hurt._" Hayley paused a moment "_How bad does it look?_"

"You'll probably see it tomorrow, and fair warning it is bad, Hayley, she took one heck of a blow, the social worker had her taken to the hospital to be checked out for other injuries." Tommy replied.

"_Oh damn, that is bad, poor girl, no amount of makeup is going to hide that, everyone in school will see it._" Hayley sighed, "_I'm sure the guys will stand with her about this but the question is will she let them._"

"She didn't sit with them in my class today."

"_She was ashamed of her face Tommy, she didn't want them to see it; she probably didn't want you to see it either, not then anyway._" Hayley explained realizing that Tommy might not get that fact.

"I'm going to go check on her and see how she's doing."

"_Okay, take care of her Tommy, I'll talk to you tomorrow._"

"Talk to you then, Hayley"

Tommy got off the phone and headed to the room where Kira had retreated. He didn't expect to hear her sobbing from within; the sound absolutely broke his heart. He knew she was hurting, she was ashamed of the mark on her face her mother had left and afraid of what her future might hold. He didn't know what to do, did he go in there, hold her while she cried or did he let her cry it out on her own as much as every bit of him wanted to go to her in her time of need. As much as just hearing her sob hurt like hell.

He leaned his head on the door chewing on his lip, not knowing what, if anything, he could do to make this better. He let out a breath, he had to do something, so he finally knocked on the door, he couldn't just stand there and listen to her sob and that seemed better than walking away.

Kira came to the door, eased it open and made eye contact with Tommy, this was the first time all day she had made full eye contact with him, or anybody else, and Tommy could see how bad this truly was for her.

Tommy embraced Kira without a word and she returned it and broke down into sobs again. The big question that rang between them was where they would go from here. They knew this was better than where Kira was but what would it be like in the future?

"Don't worry, Kira, I'm right here." He whispered into her hair "I'll always be here for you."

"Thank you, Dr. O," she replied.

"You don't have to thank me Kira."

* * *

The next day came and Tommy was not looking forward to what he had to deal with that day.

Tommy looked up as Kira came into the living room in the spare clothes she kept at his house for emergencies and Tommy knew things weren't going to be easy for her until the bruise and black eye went away. At least now she was in a safer environment. He could tell she had done her best to cover it up and it looked a lot better than it had yesterday when her confidence was at an all-time low.

"Kira you know we have to tell the guys what happened." He sighed

Kira sighed in reply. "I know, can't say I'm looking forward to it, but I know it has to be done."

Tommy gave her a side-hug before they started out to his jeep to go to school.

The ride to the school was for the most part quiet

"Sorry I broke down like that." She sighed looking out at the road as Tommy drove.

"Hey, don't apologize for that, after what you went through yesterday you needed to get that out." Tommy sighed not fully understanding why Kira apologized for crying then things started to fall into place that made his blood boil. This once again had to do with Kira's family; someone had taught her that it was shameful or somehow bad to cry.

They got to the school and split up, he knew he'd see her soon but he was concerned about her state of mind and wellbeing this soon after such a traumatic event.

The ranger's class came around and Trent was first.

"Trent, close the door a moment I need to speak with you in private about Kira." Tommy said approaching the white ranger his expression dark.

"Sure, Dr. Oliver, what's going on?" Trent asked obligingly closing the door and walking over to where Tommy had stopped.

"I thought I should warn you that CPS was called yesterday about Kira."

"Oh man… what happened?" Trent asked clearly in shock.

"She came to school yesterday with a bruised cheek and black eye."

Trent bit back the swear word that wanted to come out and Tommy could tell he didn't have to tell Trent who hurt Kira he'd already drawn that conclusion.

"Her mom hit her?" Trent was still in shock.

Tommy nodded in reply.

"When she comes to you don't tell her I told you anything, I don't think she'd like that I did."

"Don't worry, Dr. Oliver, I'll take care of her" Trent sighed. Tommy knew that look on Trent's face; he was out for revenge.

"Trent, facing her mother won't change anything. In fact she's already in jail." Tommy sighed, "She confessed last night to the crime she apparently remembered it vaguely and thought she had dreamed it until CPS showed up on her doorstep."

Trent's clenched his fists in anger but then eased his hands open again, it wasn't worth violence and he knew it; he needed to calm down for Kira's sake and his own.

Tommy waited a few moments then opened the door again to allow other students to enter. Ethan and Devin entered within moments of each other along with several other students that had been blocked by the shut door.

"Dr. O what's up?" Ethan asked then looked to see Kira walking into the room.

Trent resisted the urge to bolt from the desk and go to her; he didn't want her to know he already knew what was going on.

Kira tried to hold her head a little higher today than she had the day before, and the guys got their first look at her face and nothing Tommy could have possibly said could have prepared Trent for what he saw.

"Kira, what happened?" Ethan asked.

"I'll tell you the whole story after school" Kira told Trent and Ethan, she knew she would have to repeat it to Conner who was just getting into the classroom as she took her regular seat. She was terrified of what he might say as he took his seat.

"Kira what happened to your face?" he asked in a mercifully quiet voice.

"I'll explain after school, let's just say I'm getting a permanent change of address."

Ethan and Trent seemed to catch the hint but Conner looked confused and decided he'd learn what she meant after school. Ethan rolled his eyes and class went on as usual.

Kira had a bad feeling she wouldn't continue in this class much longer if she remained living with Tommy, and if she were honest with herself she wasn't too sure she minded giving up the class for the housing change. The idea of an overcrowded foster home with strangers didn't appeal to her in the slightest. Living with Tommy meant that she had the kind of support system she had never had before. She barely remembered having a father and compaired to the memories she did have, Tommy was a better dad than he had been when he was a part of her life.

* * *

After school the rangers gathered at Hayley's Cyberspace and gathered in a small corner at the edge of the stage to talk.

Tommy watched the quartet from the counter; he would let Kira deal with telling them herself even though he did leak what she would say to Trent. He was worried about how he would react if he got the information from Kira without any sort of outside warning as to what was going on.

"Okay what did you mean by what you said in Dr. O's class?" Conner asked.

"I'll get to that; just let me start at the beginning." Kira sighed self-consciously.

Trent gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze he knew this was going to be difficult for her to talk about from the moment Tommy let him in on what was going on.

Kira sighed and told the rangers the story of what her mother had done and how CPS got involved.

"So what now, where will you go?" Conner asked.

"I'm staying with Dr. Oliver right now, I don't know what will happen if the case closes before I'm 18." Kira said new worry edging into her tone.

To Be Continued…


	5. Chapter 5

Before we begin the chapter I would like to say thank you to **Aka-Baka Hoshi** for the great reviews on every chapter thus far and I hope you and everyone else keeps enjoying this story. With that, on with the fic.

* * *

Tommy sighed and looked at Hayley; he knew Kira was worried about her future. What would happen to her once the CPS case closed; no one had told her that, if she wanted it, things would remain as they were. She would likely lose him as a science teacher since she'd be in his house and there would be no way to prove she couldn't cheat on her assignments or tests. It wasn't as if she would do that or he would even allow it but there would always be those questions if she remained in his class.

"Are you okay?" Hayley asked.

"No… I don't know" Tommy sighed, "I got a phone call this morning, Kira's mom pled guilty to the charges. She said she was drunk but also said it was no excuse for her behavior and the judge is giving Kira two options emancipation or spend the next few months as a minor and with me."

"Kira can't support herself as required to be emancipated by California law." Hayley protested.

"Exactly and I'm sure Kira would agree, they asked if I would continue as her guardian until her 18th birthday, as if that was a question that needed asked."

"Yeah, I would have asked but I would have already known you'd never turn her out. You wouldn't turn any of those four away if they needed you." Hayley's tone was casual, it was obvious to her that Tommy would continue to care for Kira, he'd be there for her as long as she needed him.

Tommy looked the three boys seemed to gather around Kira in a protective group. Conner and Ethan had known about Kira's problems at home for quite a while, Trent was just learning about what was going on in Kira's life but that didn't mean he wasn't right there by her side when she needed him.

Kira was leaned against Trent, Conner had a hand on her arm and Ethan had her right hand in his. Trent kept a firm grip on her left hand.

Tommy wondered what she would say to remaining at his house. Did she have any other place to go? He was pretty sure the answer was no or the CPS workers would have found it by this time.

"At least now she knows she has a place to turn. Before she became a ranger she wouldn't have had that." Hayley pointed out. "She would have ended up in foster care if it weren't for you…then again I think things might have been a lot worse if it weren't for this development in her life."

"True," Tommy sighed "Her family life was bad, I've heard of so many girls in her place turning out so bad I don't even want to think of what Kira would have turned into if I hadn't been here to intervene in her life."

"Kira I'm sure Dr. O won't mind you stayed with him, he did take you in after all." Ethan said.

"I think so too, but…" Kira didn't know if the courts would allow her to stay there or if it was meant to be temporary. She hoped she could remain, she liked where she was. It was a lot better than with her mom. She leaned her head on Trent's chest and just rested there.

"Don't worry, Kira, you know we're here for you." Conner said.

"Yeah, he's right; we're a team, that's all that matters." Trent chimed in.

"Thanks guys," Kira said looking at the trio that had quickly gathered around her in her time of need. She felt as if she was in the middle of a storm and her fellow rangers, Tommy and Hayley were the only ones keeping her from being swept away.

That evening, Tommy and Kira started home. Tommy knew she was worried about what the future after the CPS case closed held.

"So, after all of this dies down, what are we going to do?" she asked.

"Keep going with our lives." Tommy replied simply.

"Wait, so this situation is permanent?" Kira asked.

"If you want it to be, yeah it is." Tommy replied with a shrug.

Kira was stunned.

"Do you?" he prompted after a few minutes of silence.

"Well yes, of course I do" Kira replied as if that answer were completely obvious.

Tommy just smiled slightly; he should have expected that answer. She was better off with him than she was anywhere else at this point in her life.

"You're aware that you won't be allowed to continue in my class, right?"(A/n: I know Trent was in the class with Anton as a teacher but that didn't seem like it would ever really happen given their relationship.)

"I know." Kira sighed "But I'll take a slight schedule change over the prospect of living with complete strangers and the risk that I'd have to leave the guys and not get to see any of you again."

"Sounds reasonable," Tommy conceded.

Tommy had never wanted to bring the teenagers into the fold as rangers but Mesogog and the dino gems had given him little choice. The gems had chosen the trio and Mesogog wasn't willing to let them live normal lives with the power in them so he had to teach them to fight against this evil and protect themselves. He had stressed that more with Kira because he knew that she might have to protect herself from more than just the tyranno drones and other monsters Mesogog sent out. There were others that would hurt a girl like her he just never dreamed one of those people would be her own mother. He hated that the one person that she couldn't fight back against was the one that hurt her in more ways than he could imagine.

They got to the house and a strange smile crossed Tommy's features.

"You realize that if you aren't my student you don't really have to call me Dr. Oliver anymore, you can call me Tommy." He said as they got out of the jeep. His tone carried a humorous edge and his smile was light, more like what she had seen when she went back those eleven years and met Tommy as a high school student.

"That would be a little too weird." Kira replied with a chuckle.

"It was a thought." He shrugged.

Kira went into her new bedroom and sat on the bed before falling backwards onto the pillows so she was staring at the celling. So much had changed in the past couple of days. She hadn't wanted CPS to be called but the more she thought about it the better this was for her. Her mom couldn't hurt her anymore, physically or emotionally. She couldn't threaten to wreck her guitar again and Tommy definitely wouldn't as he knows that is one of her prized possessions and he respected her and praised her talent. She sighed, it felt good to know she was with someone who actually cared about her and let her know it. She didn't always feel that way with her mother. She sometimes got the feeling she was a burden to her mom or that her mom didn't care that her daughter was a gifted musician whereas Tommy did know her talent, he'd heard her sing and encouraged her to keep singing even when it seemed he was the only one listening.

* * *

Time kept moving forward and since Kira's mom didn't dispute the charges but admitted to what she did, the case went quickly. This made it easy for Kira, Tommy and the other rangers to settle into a new state of normal. Kira's school schedule changed so she was no longer in science class with the other rangers and while the others didn't particularly like this fact they didn't see her as often. They knew that she was better off living with Tommy than she had ever been at home with her mom. She was enjoying living with Tommy and of all of them she knew him better than the rest. She got to benefit from his casual confidence more than the rest and it showed in how her new songs came so easily.

Tommy's sinus infection was easing away quickly when he noticed something wasn't right with Kira. She seemed exhausted and that cough sounded bad. He didn't want to believe it, she had been with him less than a month and she was already getting sick. He could tell she didn't have the sinus infection he just recently got over. She had caught something else from someone else and with the fever she was running school was out of the question. He knew this meant another visit to the doctor and more medication, but given the fact that his insurance changed when he took her in he didn't think it would be a problem.

Tommy contacted the school and told them that Kira couldn't come he had a doctor's appointment set for her. He honestly didn't feel right leaving her at home alone. The only reason he went to work is that Hayley volunteered to leave the Cyberspace in the hands of employees and stay at the house with her to make sure she was okay until he could get her to the doctor that afternoon.

Trent came into the classroom a confused expression on his face, he hadn't seen Kira all day even though he knew for a fact Tommy was there that day.

"Dr. Oliver; is Kira okay?" he asked.

"She isn't feeling well; she's going to the doctor this afternoon."

"I hope she gets better soon."

"Me too, Trent," Tommy replied.

The message soon got around to the other rangers that Kira was out sick.

That afternoon Tommy drove Kira to the doctor's office her breathing had gotten worse and both her throat and her chest were sore from the coughing, which had begun to bring up mucus from her chest. These developments had Tommy worried more than before he wasn't sure what she had and the diagnosis of bronchitis seemed 100 times better than what he feared.

They went home with the recommendation to take something for pain and maybe something to get the mucus out of her chest. The doctor had also told Tommy that if her breathing got worse he might have to take her to the ER where there was a chance she'd be admitted.

Worry ate at Tommy on the drive home. He was sure she would do okay but something in the back of his mind kept telling him a ranger's luck was never that good, and his luck was second-rate at best and could arguably have been the worst of any ranger in history. He looked over at her as she dozed on the way back home and a sigh escaped him, he was worried about her in that moment and could only hope things wouldn't get any worse.

Hayley was at the house with the boys when Tommy and Kira returned home.

Trent walked with Kira back to her room to get her settled in to get some rest.

"What's the diagnosis?" Hayley asked.

"Bronchitis," Tommy replied dropping heavily into a chair.

"Oh," Hayley winced. Conner and Ethan were in another room doing homework, they would find out later that day what the diagnosis was.

"Her breathing was bad; they said if it got worse she might have to be hospitalized." Tommy sighed "With all the singing and fighting she does why did this hit her so hard?"

"I don't know." Hayley admitted taking a seat beside him placing a hand on his shoulder in an attempt at comfort.

Tommy rubbed his face with his hands, "Right now they said she needs to take something to get the mucus from her lungs and she could take something for pain if she needs it."

"Well at least they gave you a plan of attack, that's more than you had when you went up there. Sure it isn't as satisfying as a cure all pill or something but at least bronchitis is something she'll recover from." Hayley replied rubbing slow circles on Tommy's shoulder blade.

"True." Tommy sighed jadedly.

"Tommy, you can't forget it hasn't been that long since you got over that sinus infection that had you kicked for a few weeks." Hayley pointed out casually, "We can't have you getting sick again as well, those boys are good but they still need a mentor."

Tommy sighed and shook his head, she was right he needed to be careful after that as he was still recovering.

Trent returned after he was sure Kira was settled in and had all she needed within reach.

"She's set for now, she said she'd call or text us if she needed anything." He said "But I really doubt she will do much more than sleep for a while. I think the medication has made her drowsy." Trent's expression reflected the same kind of worry Tommy's did and Hayley quickly realized both of them cared for Kira even if they looked at her in different ways.

"Good," Tommy replied, "She needs the rest."

Suddenly the alarm in Tommy's morpher went off.

To Be Continued…


	6. Chapter 6

Tommy bit back a swear word that threatened to escape when the alarm sounded as he knew that meant Mesogog was on the attack.

"Guys, looks like we're going to have to fight one member short," Tommy sighed.

"Wait, Dr. O, one member short means we only have one fully powered megazord," Conner pointed out worried about what would happen if they had to take it to megazord mode. If the zords had to be called it would mean Trent would be on his own in battle.

Tommy bit his lip, Conner was right. At that moment Tommy hoped they didn't have to call on Trent's megazord, not that he didn't have faith that Trent could handle the situation he just feared that with Kira down Trent's head wouldn't be in the game.

"We'll figure it out," Tommy replied, as they started downstairs to see exactly what they were facing.

Hayley watched them leave then went to look in on Kira. They wouldn't need her help for a little while yet, so she wanted to be sure Kira was set and comfortable.

She peaked into Kira's bedroom and saw that she was fast asleep. Near her bed was a reusable plastic bottle of water and some tissues which were well within her reach should she wake up needing either. Her cell phone was on the charger nearby as well in case she needed to contact them.

Hayley eased the door shut to let Kira sleep, right now liquids and sleep were Kira's best friends.

Hayley headed down to the command center in case the rangers needed her to do something with the computers. She really hoped Trent could handle the zord battle on his own as the megazord if it only had Tricerazord and Tyrannozord was weak, and it wasn't ideal to form that zord without the Pterazord. Brachiozord had defensive capabilities out the ears but no offensive weapons to her knowledge, and she had studied all the zords and there were no weapons to that one, which made it a carrier only.

Hayley knew Tommy felt useless at this point with what was going on with Kira, she was sick and in pain and he could do nothing to make her feel better and he also couldn't do much to help the rangers in a zord fight. It really seemed that he had gotten better just in time to play witness to things falling apart at the seams. The team still had four members that were at almost full strength, Tommy didn't count himself as being at 100% yet but he was getting there, Hayley figured if Tommy kept on the right path he'd be 100% by about Wednesday of the next week.

Hayley knew he hated that Kira was sick and really wanted to do something about it even though he knew as well as anyone that there was nothing he could do.

The battle came to an end and the rangers came back to the command center, their victory bittersweet without the yellow ranger to join in the celebration.

Tommy headed upstairs to check on Kira and see if she needed anything as Conner, Ethan and Trent sat around the command center reflecting on their victory.

"You three do know Kira wouldn't want you to worry about her, she's going to be fine." Hayley told them turning away from the computer and towards the trio.

They all knew the diagnosis and knew there was a very good chance she would recover quickly.

"It's just hard to really celebrate much of anything with her up there feeling like crap." Conner replied, Trent and Ethan agreed with Conner.

"I know," Hayley sighed, "but things will get better."

Hayley noticed Trent give the punching bag a half-hearted punch. She knew he cared deeply for Kira and that her illness had him as worried as it did Tommy.

"Trent, I know you're upset, we all are but taking it out on the punching bag won't change the situation." Hayley pointed out but Trent had stopped listening and started out of the command center.

Hayley let out a sigh then turned around as Tommy entered the command center again.

"Where is Trent?" he asked.

"He left," Ethan replied.

"Yeah, I don't know what's up with him." Conner added "He seems bummed out by something."

"I do, Trent really cares for Kira and seems to be taking all of this to heart a little too much." Hayley sighed turning to Tommy "they're right when they said he walked out, what they didn't catch is he seems to be shutting people out" Hayley stood and walked close enough to whisper to Tommy "he's taking this worse than you are and that is saying something."

Tommy gave a sigh and walked past Hayley towards the exit Trent took, he would have to deal with this if he was going to keep the team together.

Tommy walked the property for a few minutes before he located Trent.

"Trent… I know watching her in pain is hard but you can't take this out on yourself." He sighed putting a hand on Trent's shoulder.

"Who says I am?" Trent asked jerking his shoulder from Tommy's grip and taking a few steps away from the veteran ranger.

"No one had to." Tommy countered "You're actions said it all."

"Really, so my actions told you all of that?"

"Yeah, they did." Tommy replied coming to stand next to Trent.

"Believe it or not I was a lot like you when I was your age, granted I couldn't draw back then and I still can't but that's beside the point. The point is our brains work a lot alike and if I've learned anything it's that guilt can eat you from the inside out if you don't let it out." Tommy leaned back against a tree "And if you're anything like me you're good at putting yourself on a guilt trip from hell."

Trent leaned on the same tree.

"Yeah, and right now I feel like… like I wish there was something I could do to make Kira better."

Tommy gave Trent's shoulder a squeeze.

"I wish there was something we could do to magically make her better as well, but right now all we can do is support her and let her immune system do the rest." Tommy sighed he knew Trent didn't like that answer any more than he would have at that age and Kimberly was in that bed but he couldn't change the truth no matter how much he wanted to.

* * *

Hayley looked at the clock and sighed.

"You two might want to start heading home." She said.

After a couple of grumbles Conner and Ethan started to leave.

"Hayley please keep us up to date on Kira's condition." Conner requested as he started up the stairs.

"I will." Hayley replied.

"Thanks" Conner and Ethan said as they headed out the trapdoor and out Tommy's front door to vehicles to leave.

Hayley sighed the command center was quiet, that was rare. Suddenly she got a text message sound. She looked and gave a sad sigh as she read.

"I hate to ask but could you get me some soup – Kira."

Kira had always had to be so independent that she now felt bad asking for help.

"No problem, Kira, and never feel bad asking for help if you need it." Hayley replied.

"Thanks," was the reply.

Hayley headed upstairs and fixed Kira some chicken noodle soup and took it to her.

"Kira we're going to have to have a little woman to woman chat about that text message you sent." Hayley said as she placed the tray on the bed for Kira then sat on the edge of the bed as Kira sat up.

"Kira you know we don't mind coming to help you if you need it, or getting you things, you don't have to be upset asking for help." Hayley said gently.

"Hayley you don't know how hard this is for me, mom she made me feel so bad when I asked for her help. It was like I was committing some kind of crime just asking for her help."

"Well, Kira that was your mom's problem not yours, you know me, Kira, I'm happy to help you, and so is Tommy." Hayley said.

What Hayley didn't know was that Tommy was standing outside the door during this, he had gotten a similar text message from Kira but when he replied she had apologized and said Hayley was taking care of it. The words in the text message had sent him to her room; he had felt a deep stab of pain in his heart that she felt like she had to apologize for asking for help.

Tommy knocked to make sure it was safe to come in.

"Come on in Tommy," Hayley called.

"Kira, I want you to listen" Tommy said coming to the edge of her bed as Hayley got up. "If I'm in this house you can call me if you need anything, I don't care if you wake me up, if you need help just call." His tone was firm, but held the kind of compassion that the rangers saw in Tommy. He sat on the edge of the bed to speak with Kira.

Kira looked at him in surprise, she had a good idea he had been listening when he began to speak, but what he had to say blew her mind. She didn't know what to say.

Tommy moved the tray and embraced her.

"Kira, I'm here for you, I don't care what happened in the past; that was history, I want to be able to help you but I can't help you if I don't know what you need."

Kira hugged him tightly, hiding her face in his chest.

"Thank you" she said in a hoarse whisper.

"Don't worry about it." He replied.

Hayley watched as Tommy held onto Kira and comforted her. Hayley knew after all she had heard about Kira's history Tommy's presence in her life could bring nothing but good things. Tommy was a sympathetic soul that saw her hurting and wanted her to be better.

After a while they left to let Kira finish her soup.

"Text me when you finish and I'll come get your dishes, okay?" Hayley said.

"Okay," Kira replied comforted by the fact that she now knew they wanted to help her.

To Be Continued…


	7. Chapter 7

Hayley and Tommy got into the living room.

"I can't believe her mother would do that to her." Hayley said.

"Her mother was a drunk."

"I don't give a damn what she was, Thomas, she had no right to treat her own child like that!"

"I agree, but what's done is done, Hayley and you know that." Tommy sighed; he hated what he was learning about Kira's family life. He had thought he had known what her home life had been like, but the longer she was in his home the more he realized he hadn't known about her life.

Hayley gave an exasperated sigh; Tommy was right about this.

Tommy watched as Hayley paced the living room, she wanted to beat Kira's mom to within an inch of her life and Tommy couldn't blame her.

"She disgusts me, Tommy, she has a gorgeous, talented daughter and she treats her like she's crap!" hot tears of anger start to fall down Hayley's cheeks "What kind of mother does that to her daughter?" she demanded.

"Hayley calm down, getting worked up about it won't change anything," Tommy said putting a hand on Hayley's shoulder.

Hayley groaned, she knew Tommy was right but she wasn't ready to let go of this rant.

"This was her daughter, Tommy, a child is supposed to be their parent's world and Kira was like nothing to her mom." Hayley continued to rant. "She has been hurt so bad by someone who was supposed to love her."

"You're right, she a rotten deal, but that's history, we're with her now, and that is all going to change for her."

"I know, Tommy I… I just feel so bad for her."

Tommy embraced Hayley.

"So do I."

Hayley's phone went off telling her Kira was finished eating.

"I'll get the dishes." Tommy told her.

"Thanks, I… I really don't want her to see me this way." Hayley sighed and went to sit down on the couch with her head in her hands.

Tommy knocked on the door and entered the room. Hayley knew Kira would be curious why she didn't come in but Hayley didn't want Kira to see her so upset. She hated what she had heard about Kira's mother. Tommy sat beside Hayley on the couch after putting the dishes in the kitchen, and placed a hand on her back.

"I can't believe anyone would do that to their child." Hayley sighed still in shock but not as explosively angry as she had been. Tommy had been shocked when she called him by his full first name instead of the typical "Tommy", frankly in a rant like that he shouldn't have been quite so surprised by that. She had done it before, but the last time she had she was actually angry at him during the creation of the dino morphers looking back he couldn't even remember why.

Tommy could tell Hayley was exhausted by the way she sat and the look on her face, it wasn't to the point where the rangers would notice yet but he had known her longer, he could tell these things.

"Hayley, just stay here tonight" he said.

"Why?"

"I don't think you're in any condition to get behind the wheel"

Hayley sighed between her exhaustion and emotional state she figured Tommy was right.

"Okay," she said deciding not to argue on a point that he'd win anyway.

Hayley headed upstairs for a shower, she knew his house as well as she did her own apartment and was proud of that fact. A lot of it had to do with she practically lived with him while they were working on the morphers and command center.

Tommy sat back on the couch as he watched her head up the stairs. He then went to check on Kira again and probably get her some more water; he had noticed the container she was using was low. As he got up he saw her come out of the room.

"Go back to bed, Kira."

"I need some more water." The young songwriter replied.

"I'll get it, you go back to bed." He countered taking the drink bottle from her hand.

She started to protest but a very mild glare from Tommy was enough to change her mind.

"Okay, thanks." Kira turned around and went back to her room. She had to admit laying down felt a lot better than trying to move around at this point and it was easier to breathe with the humidifier Hayley had brought from her apartment.

Tommy filled the container with some ice and more water then returned it to Kira's room. Then went back into the living room to make sure he was up to date on his grades before going to shower and go to bed.

* * *

Friday rolled around and the Conner and Ethan seemed a little more energetic than they had all week. Trent was pretty much his usual self, still a little bogged down with worry but not as guilt ridden, as he had been earlier in the week.

Tommy looked at the trio as they sat around doing whatever they typically did on a quiet Friday afternoon. The temperature had started to drop for wintertime and Tommy noticed the rangers seemed to congregate at his house. This wasn't unusual, they always either hung out at the Cyberspace or his house anyway. He sat in his chair running scans of the local area unaware of the fact that Trent was once again drawing him. Tommy knew Trent had tons of drawings of all four of his fellow rangers along with Hayley; they seemed to be his favorite practice subjects for realistic drawings. Honestly Tommy really didn't care if Trent drew him or not, he knew Trent was exceptionally talented but that kind of talent only came from practice and if Tommy could help by just saying okay to Trent drawing him candidly from time to time he'd give Trent the go ahead any day of the week.

"Dr. Oliver, how is Kira doing?" Trent asked.

"She's doing a little better," Tommy replied not looking away from the monitor; Hayley was nearby working on another project but didn't contribute to the conversation.

"She said something about transferring control of the ptera zord to someone but not how she'd do it or to whom." Trent sighed going back to work on his sketch.

"She somehow convinced the ptera zord to let me take control of it until she recovers and can join you guys again." Tommy replied, "I'm not completely sure how she did it, but she did."

"Well, we're back to two megazords again so that's a bonus." Conner commented

"Yeah Conner, it's a small bonus but I'd rather be back to five rangers." Tommy countered.

"I agree, two megazords makes things easier on Trent, but five rangers would make it easier on everyone." Hayley added then looked to Tommy as he checked his phone. He had a text message and by the look on his face it wasn't good.

"Tommy what's wrong?" Hayley asked, but Tommy bolted out of the room as she asked

To Be Continued…


	8. Chapter 8

Tommy heard his text message tone go off as Hayley spoke and checked it to see a message from Kira. He opened it knowing she probably needed something only to see three characters "911". Tommy jumped from his chair and ran out taking the stairs two at a time.

"Hayley, what happened?" Trent asked after watching Tommy run from the command center.

"Trent you know as much as I do" Hayley replied. "I think he got a message from Kira."

"Oh man, I hope she's okay." Ethan sighed as he and Conner walked up to join Hayley and Trent.

"Yeah, we all do." Conner added.

Then Hayley's phone rang.

"Hello, Tommy what the heck just happened you ran out… wait… she what… Tommy slow down, what happened?" Hayley paused to listen to Tommy explain "Okay I'll let the rangers know, take care of her, Tommy, bye."

Hayley hung up and turned to the rangers.

"Kira texted him with a 911 he ran up there and found her gasping for air, she told him she felt like she couldn't breathe so he's taking her to the emergency room." Hayley looked between the three boys. Conner looked as if he had been slapped, Ethan didn't look much better and she honestly thought Trent might pass out.

"Hayley what do we do now?" Conner asked seemingly the first to find his voice or at least find a way to make it work. Trent had dropped into the chair Tommy had vacated by this point.

"I honestly don't know." Hayley replied, "Tommy said he'd call me with any news so he said you guys are welcome to stay the night if that's how long it takes, but with her breathing that bad the ER's going to rush her back as an extreme emergency."

* * *

Tommy hadn't been surprised when the nurses rushed Kira back to the triage rooms, she was gasping hard for air. He gave the receptionist the information she needed and then walked over and dropped like a stone into a nearby chair. He couldn't believe what was happening; the adrenaline was still pumping through his veins from when he saw how hard Kira was struggling just to breathe. His hands shook as the adrenalin ebbed from his body, he wasn't sure he'd ever had that much adrenalin in his system at any one time in his life. He took a few deep breaths trying to calm down and come down off the adrenalin high as a doctor came out for him.

"Are you okay, sir?" she asked.

"I'm still running on adrenalin at the moment." He replied taking a deep breath to still his shaking hands.

The doctor understood Tommy running on adrenalin, Kira was under his care and he just had to rush her into the hospital unable to breathe.

"Come with me I'd like to speak with you in private." Dr. Martinez said and Tommy followed her to another room

"We gave Miss Ford a couple of breathing treatments to get her lungs to open up but I really don't feel comfortable sending her home at this time." Tommy sighed and sat heavily in a chair. "You are her guardian, but if you take her home it's against my advice."

"I just want to do what is best for Kira, right now, so admit her." Tommy gave a jaded sigh.

"I know this isn't what you hoped for, Dr. Oliver but its best for her."

Tommy looked at the doctor in confusion, how had he known he had a Ph.D.

"You don't recognize me, do you, we met at the high school open house, my daughter is in your class, her name is Amanda Martenz."

Tommy then realized who this was.

"Okay, let's do this." Tommy replied, the adrenaline was gone from his system and left him feeling like crap.

"Okay, I'll get you the paperwork, according to what I found you are her legal guardian, is that right."

"Yes, it is." Tommy replied.

Dr. Martinez took Tommy to where Kira was resting, now on supplement oxygen. Tommy sighed and sat by Kira's bedside.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" his tone was soft as he took Kira's hand into his own.

"Better," she replied "They want me to stay up here."

"I know, and maybe its best, after what happened today." Tommy sighed, he figured that wasn't what Kira wanted to hear but she wasn't doing well and his house was a little too remote for him to feel comfortable going against the doctor's advice.

Kira looked up for a moment, she knew Tommy was right and only had her in mind with this decision.

"Okay, I guess I'm staying here for a while."

Kira settled into the bed and soon was dozing off. Tommy started to leave to call Hayley to let her know what was going on.

"Tommy... please... don't leave." Kira said apparently more asleep than awake.

Tommy was stunned, after she said that calling him by first name would be awkward, she actually did it, maybe, to herself, she had been thinking of him like that for a while trying to build up to saying it aloud and in this half asleep state it slipped out. He sat back down to wait until she was asleep before going to make his phone call. He really was shocked to hear that name from her, after what she had said when he proposed she call him by first name he had resigned himself that it wouldn't happen but now he knew it would, maybe it would take time to quit being awkward for her but she would do it.

"I'm not going anywhere, Kira, I'm right here." he said softly squeezing her hand to remind her he was near. The IV in her left hand annoyed him, for some reason, then he remembered she was one of two rangers in this team who were left handed.

Soon Kira went to sleep and Tommy slipped out to make a call and fill out paper work.

He headed outside and dialed Hayley's phone number as he walked.

Hayley picked up on the second ring.

_"Tommy, how is she?"_

"Kira is doing better, but the doctors want to keep her for a few days" Tommy replied obviously not happy with this outcome.

_"She'll get better."_ Hayley said.

"Yeah," Tommy's voice lacked any enthusiasm, it wasn't that he didn't believe Kira would get better he just didn't want to hospitalize her.

_"Tommy, she's going to be fine, yeah this isn't what we wanted but you should know better than anyone things don't always go as planned"_

Tommy sighed, "True".

This wasn't what they had wanted but it could be worse.

* * *

Hayley got off the phone and gathered the rangers around.

"You three might want to sit down." she warned.

They took seats around her.

"What is it, Hayley?" Trent asked.

"Kira is doing better, but the doctor wants her to stay up there for a while." She explained.

They looked stunned.

"Why?" Conner asked.

"The bronchitis, its really bad and she needs more than we can do at home." Hayley replied. "They should have her in a room shortly, Tommy said he'd text me the room number." she said.

The three teenage guys had gotten settled in for the night as none of them felt like driving home after what they had just found out.

Conner and Ethan had just called and told their parents they were staying with a friend; Trent had been a little more honest to Anton and told him that he was staying with Tommy, or at least at Tommy's house, Tommy was currently at the hospital with Kira.

Trent got off the phone with Anton and sighed, Anton was going out of town again and Trent wasn't looking forward to staying in that mansion alone. He figured Tommy wouldn't mind him crashing there, he never had in the past and he figured Tommy wouldn't be home for long at a time since Kira was in the hospital. He could see Hayley looked worried.

"Hayley, what's wrong?" Trent asked as Ethan and Conner went to bed.

"I'm worried about Tommy," she admitted "He is great in a lot of ways, but in times like this he can get to the point where he doesn't think of himself at all and as stubborn as he is, it will be hard to convince him to stop and care for himself the way he needs to. I've seen him go days with so little sleep it drove me crazy. He could potentially put himself in the hospital and we can't afford that."

"Can you contact someone if it starts getting that bad and he won't listen to us?" Trent asked he had watched the journal with Tommy a while after he turned good.

"I have the phone numbers of some of his old teammates I could call them." Hayley sighed.

"I hope we don't have to call them."

"Me too, but I've known Tommy long enough to know sometimes even I can't talk him into or out of something, it may take one of them if he gets as bad as I think he will." Hayley sighed.

* * *

Tommy came home the next morning looking exhausted but he didn't go to bed, instead he got a cup of coffee and started grading some test papers.

Hayley woke up at the sound of someone moving around downstairs along with the smell of fresh coffee. Since she hadn't expected Tommy home that night she had claimed his bed for herself. She knew he wouldn't mind, she had done it before and he never said a word but she had caught him in the room Kira now claimed as hers once or twice as he was too much of a gentleman to wake her and ask for his own bed back.

Then she looked at the clock, it was 8 am she didn't expect rangers to be up yet and even then Trent was the only one of the teen guys that knew the first thing about operating a coffee pot. She walked downstairs and into the kitchen and saw Tommy sipping on a cup of coffee.

"When did you get home?" she asked helping herself to a cup of coffee.

"Maybe five minutes ago, long enough to make that and get a cup " he replied casually.

Hayley noticed he seemed tired.

"Why don't you go get some sleep?" she asked taking a sip from her cup.

"I'm fine." it was a bold faced lie, he was tired and in need of sleep, but denying himself for some reason.

"I have things to do." he added before leaving the kitchen to find a private place to grade papers and Hayley groaned, she saw this coming from a mile away. He would end up spreading himself too thin and she would end up calling someone to stop the madness because she knew he was too far gone to listen to her.

* * *

Tuesday rolled around and Hayley had just about had it with Tommy and his behavior. She decided it was time to call in reinforcements when he went to work when Hayley thought he was in no condition to do so.

Hayley grabbed her phone and found a certain number she had yet to need to call, but the owner had told her to call it if she needed his help dealing with a certain hardheaded veteran ranger.

"Hello... Yeah he has… Oh yeah I don't think he's slept since much since Friday" Hayley chuckled at the reaction from the other end "I'll meet you then, bye."

Tommy went home glad the rangers were planning to go to the cyberspace that afternoon, he could get his grades done in peace. He grabbed the energy shot he had hid in the fridge the day before, counting his lucky stars Hayley didn't find it and pour it out while he wasn't looking. Tommy knew she was only trying to help him, but he had too much on his plate at the moment.

He went down to the basement and set the energy shot on the desk and began a citywide scan before pulling out assignments to grade.

He started working then reached for the energy shot to find it gone.

To Be Continued...


	9. Chapter 9

Tommy turned around, he expected to see Hayley standing behind him, but found the last person he thought would show up in his command center.

"Jason... Long time no see, how have you been bro?"

"Better than you apparently" Jason replied holding the energy shot in plain view of his high school friend.

Tommy made a swipe for it but it was obvious to Jason that Tommy was no condition to be anywhere but in bed. He wasn't about to let Tommy use the energy shot to try and keep going on into the night, when he needed sleep.

"Tommy, go to bed, those papers will be here tomorrow, it's not like they can't wait one more day." Jason said frustrated by Tommy's blatant disregard for himself.

Tommy lunged for Jason, he knew Jason was right but he wasn't ready to admit it just yet. He was thinking of all he had to take care of with Kira in the hospital, Conner, Ethan and Trent in need of guidance from someone with his level of experience and his students who needed him to teach them and give them their grades.

Conner, Ethan and Trent came downstairs into the command center and saw Tommy in a fight with a man that Conner and Ethan only vaguely recognized until Ethan got a good look at the man's face.

"Oh man… that's the first red ranger." He commented beyond blown away.

"Really dude?" Conner replied then he also got a good look at the man in question. "Oh man…"

"I thought they were friends." Trent commented, "Why are they fighting?"

"You know as much as I do." Ethan replied.

After a few moments of losing to Jason, Tommy finally gave up. It was apparent that Conner, Ethan and Trent had gone unnoticed by the two veteran rangers. The teens were shocked by Jason's presence and even more surprised by the fact that Tommy admitted defeat to anybody.

"What about my team?" Tommy asked leaned His fears now evident to the former red ranger "The three remaining rangers, they need a mentor, Kira needs me to be there for her and my job."

"Tommy, don't worry about them, I'll take care of the ranger business you take care of family business." Jason replied knowing that taking ranger business off the table would take a lot of stress off Tommy's mind. Jason was just as capable of mentoring these rangers as Tommy and Tommy knew this. That left Tommy no reason to worry about that and give him the time he needed to worry about work and the girl Jason knew Tommy had accepted so willingly as a member of his own family.

"Now go, get you something to eat, take a shower and go to bed. I'll handle things down here."

"Okay."

Jason gave Tommy a pat on the shoulder and Tommy headed towards the stairs only to be met with three very confused teenage boys.

"Are these the rangers you spoke of?" Jason asked.

"Yep, this is Conner, he's the red ranger, Ethan, blue ranger and Trent…"

"Let me guess, white ranger?"

"Yeah, and guys this is Jason, he was the original red ranger and from the time we were in high school he's been as good as a brother to me." Tommy said.

"We didn't always get along so well, but Tommy's right we were like brothers; we even had our moments where we fought like brothers as you just witnessed, but in the end if someone went after one of us they'd have to deal with the other." Jason shrugged with a smile "Now get up there and get some sleep, bonehead." Jason chuckled, a playful edge to his tone as he pushed Tommy towards the stairs and Tommy glared at Jason but didn't say anything as he felt he couldn't get angry with his old friend for telling the truth.

The younger rangers made a path so Tommy could head up and go to bed.

"Okay guys, come on down, I'd like to get to know you three, especially since I promised Tommy I'd look out for you guys." Jason said stepping aside so the boys could come down the stairs and take seats around the room.

"Okay guys, tell me about yourselves." Jason said taking the seat Tommy had vacated moments earlier setting the energy shot he'd taken from his best friend on the table the trio were shocked it hadn't been dropped in the brawl.

"What are you going to do with that?" the white ranger, Tommy had introduced him as Trent, asked.

"I don't know, I just know Tommy didn't need it, he needed sleep." Jason replied. "You're Trent, correct?"

"Yes,"

"Conner" Jason said pointing to the red clad teen.

"Yeah,"

"Then you're Ethan."

"Yeah, that's me." Ethan seemed a little confused

"I'm just making sure I have everyone's names right, Ethan, I'm still new at mentoring." Jason replied, "so, just what do you guys do in your spare time, any hobbies, sports?"

"I play soccer." Conner replied. "Ethan is a computer geek and Trent… among other things is an artist."

Jason looked rather impressed.

"Conner, don't underestimate computer geeks, remember one created your morpher," a female voice said.

Jason looked up to see an auburn haired woman enter the command center he assumed this was none other than the famous Hayley Ziktor. He had often gotten the feeling that she and Tommy had something beyond friendship between them that they weren't even willing to admit to themselves much less anyone else, but he didn't say anything to Tommy about this; he figured even as dense as Tommy could be he'd figure it out eventually.

"Hi Jason, I'm Hayley, we spoke on the phone. Conner is the kind to forget that computers are so vital to our day to day lives."

"Nice to meet you," Jason replied reaching for a handshake "and I've known people like that, I was like that for a while."

"You too," Hayley replied accepting the handshake. "May I check that computer? It looks like Tommy was running a scan of the city."

"Oh… yeah sure" Jason got up and moved out of the way to let Hayley do her work. He then took another seat to continue his conversation with the guys and noticed that Trent had a sketchbook out.

"Here, these are my latest sketches if you want to look them over." Trent said handing Jason the book.

"Thanks." Jason replied putting the book on the table, he'd look through the sketches later.

"Okay guys I want to see exactly what Tommy has taught you when it comes to combat."

"So how do we do that?" Conner asked.

"We spar each other." Trent replied as if it were the most obvious thing.

"Okay but there are only three of us, one of us won't have a sparring partner." Ethan pointed out.

"Then one of you will spar against me, I promise I won't give you the treatment I gave Tommy,." Jason said

"No offense, dude, but I'd rather spar Ethan, I know he can't whip me." Conner said.

"None taken; just don't call me dude, ever."

"So what do I call you?"

"You can call me Jason."

"Jason, okay," Conner echoed making sure he heard Jason.

Jason watched as Conner and Ethan spared analyzing each move rather impressed by what the powers gave them and what Tommy had managed to teach the boys.

After that Conner and Ethan sat and Jason turned to Trent.

"You don't mind this do you?"

"It's no problem." Trent replied.

The more Jason interacted with Trent the more he realized Trent was a lot like Tommy was at that age, selfless and kind but there was something behind those dark eyes, something Jason had only ever seen in Tommy, the haunted look of one who had been touched by powers that turned them into evil rangers. Jason wondered if Trent had been a dark ranger in the past, but didn't ask, he figured if he had it would be sensitive topic for the young man, it always had been a touchy subject for Tommy.

After the sparing Jason sat with the rangers he had to admit he was quite impressed by all three boys. Tommy had managed to teach them well, he'd have to spar the other two one on one to see exactly what they were capable of but from what he saw they were good. Conner's strength lay in his lower body but as a soccer player that was somewhat expected. Ethan was more upper body, once again very little surprise, but Trent had been the dark horse. He more balanced than the other two but he did have a bad habit of leaving his right side open and Jason figured that had something to do with the fact that Trent was left handed. He had heard from Adam that was a common problem among left-handed fighters (A/N: I don't know if this is true or not but I needed to put something in there that Trent needed to work on).

"I'm just curious how you got your powers, I know Tommy wasn't looking forward to handing those powers out and he said not anyone could use them."

"We were in detention exploring the woods while Dr. O was looking at a closed museum not too far away when we fell in a sink hole and followed a tunnel here." Ethan explained.

"That was all four of you?" Jason asked he had to remind himself that when Ethan said "Dr. O," he meant Tommy.

"No that was just Conner Ethan and Kira, my story… my story is different…" He heard the hesitation in Trent's voice and his stomach clinched into a knot as this seemed to confirm his suspicions about the young ranger.

"Trent you can tell me," Jason encouraged him gently.

Trent sighed.

"I got pulled through an invisa-porthole into Mesogog's lair and discovered this" Trent held up his wrist. "It chose me and…"

"And turned you evil," Jason concluded, "you aren't the first to tell a story like that." Jason sighed. "Remember, I was a ranger when Rita cast her spell on Tommy. While I can't say I know what you're going through I know that it took Tommy months to be able to tell his story without a lot of prodding and even then we could see a lot of shame in his eyes."

Jason didn't point out that he saw much the same shame in Trent's eyes. The self-loathing that came from his fall to the darkness, the criticism of himself that floated around in his mind because he was too weak to stand against it. Tommy had expressed the same feelings after he'd been freed from Rita's spell, but the others had practically had to drag that information out of Tommy.

**To Be Continued…**


	10. Chapter 10

The rangers left for the evening and Jason turned his attention to the sketchbook Trent had left with him. He turned to the front page to see a teenage girl tuning an acoustic guitar.

"This is some amazing work." He thought aloud.

"Trent's drawing, yes, he's very gifted." Hayley replied turning to Jason "The girl is their yellow ranger, Kira Ford."

"Why do I get the feeling he might have a crush on her?"

"He does, he just doesn't know any of us realize that. So far the only one out of the loop is Kira." Hayley sighed not looking at Jason "and after this I don't think that will last long."

Jason continued through the pages, found one of Tommy asleep in the command center chair and began to laugh.

"I see you found Tommy's less than flattering image, he does that quite a bit. These rangers are like his kids and he'll stay down here for hours just making sure that their ranger powers will bring them home." Hayley explained.

Jason sobered at those words; he should have known Tommy was committed to what he was doing as a mentor to the rangers. Tommy was never one only give something half of himself. He was always all or nothing and that got him into trouble on more than one occasion.

"When he sets his mind and heart to something he's committed 100 percent, and there aren't a lot of people or things that will change his mind once it's set." Jason sighed.

"Yeah, I've noticed that too." Hayley replied turning to face Jason, "Trent's the same way once you really get to know him. I think at least part of it is trying to make up for the dark things they did as evil rangers, or maybe that was something that made them ideal targets for the evil?"

"I don't know, but I'm glad you called me when you did, sometimes Tommy needs a wakeup call to get his head back in the right place." Jason sighed.

He didn't mention that a rational person like Hayley seemed to be was the kind of person that Tommy was best associating with, as he was deeply emotion driven and she was the type to keep him from losing that legendary level head that he was so famous for among the other rangers.

"I'm sure we can just leave him out of combat for the most part, but right now he is the only one controlling the ptera zord, Kira managed to temporarily transfer control of her zord to him just hours before she was hospitalized."

"So… if we need a megazord we need to call him."

"Only if you really need more than one, Trent can use his own Drago Zord along with the Stegazord to create the Drago-Stegazord which is an alternate megazord that will use all of the auxiliary zords that will connect to the original megazord. So far Tommy's only evoked his power over the Pterazord once in the past going on 4 days that he has had it." Hayley explained.

"So there are two megazords."

"Yep, and that has been a huge help lately, especially with Kira down." Hayley sighed, "There is also the Brachiozord which is a carrier zord; I recently discovered it does have one attack but it isn't designed for fighting."

"Carrier zords typically aren't meant to participate in combat," Jason shrugged "So for its type it's good; probably has armor as thick as my head."

"True." Hayley conceded "And its armor is second to none in our arsenal. The next most armored zord still doesn't even come close to it in defensive capability."

"I'm going to go upstairs and check on Tommy." Jason said and headed out of the command center.

Hayley sighed; she had been so glad she could get ahold of Jason and get him here so quickly. She cared for Tommy and hated to see him in the condition he was in at that moment.

Jason got upstairs to the second floor of the house and noticed a door sitting partially open. He looked inside and saw Tommy laying there asleep. Jason smirked and shook his head. Tommy had actually had the presence of mind to change clothes and take his glasses off before crashing in bed, which honestly surprised Jason. It had also surprised Jason that Tommy wore glasses in the first place as he'd had 20/20 vision back in high school.

Jason went back downstairs to where Hayley now stood waiting for him.

"Tommy's going to be out for the rest of the night." Jason said.

"Good," Hayley sighed with relief, now maybe he'd have enough energy to get through with what he needed to do and actually go visit Kira, he didn't do that Monday or that day, as he was just too tired.

* * *

Trent stood in his father's office more surprised than he had been in years.

"Trent you know Tommy was my friend and right now Tommy is in a position of need and, even though we don't act as the friends we once were, I still want to help him in this time." Anton explained casually leaning his elbows on the desk, "The problem is Tommy would protest if he knew it was my doing. He has always had a lot of difficulty when it came to accepting expensive gifts he is particularly selfless where that is concerned." "So by doing this anonymous means he can't come back and protest the amount of money you spend on him." Trent concluded.

"Exactly, this way he can ponder the mystery for a little while then focus his energy on getting Miss Ford back to full health." Anton replied. He leaned back in his chair before he continued speaking.

"Son, it didn't surprise me that Tommy took Kira in. Honestly, knowing Tommy the way I do, I would have been shocked if he didn't take her in. I saw the pictures of the injury she sustained at her mother's hand and Trent, Dr. Thomas Oliver is in no way the type who could see that, know what caused it, and ever be able live with himself if he didn't do anything for her." Anton explained, "Tommy has his dense moments, what person doesn't; but I see Tommy as being extremely benevolent, has been as long as I've known him. I always admired that about him, I don't think I ever told him that, probably would have just embarrassed him if I ever pointed it out."

Trent sighed he had seen that in Tommy a lot. Tommy had encouraged him to continue to draw even when Anton had put a ban on it, even going so far as to open up a shelf in his house for Trent to leave his sketchbooks so Anton wouldn't know his son had continued to draw. Tommy had also confronted Anton on his disregard for Trent's talent for art and that, despite what Anton thought Trent could get a very profitable job in the art world with talent like his. That was when Anton really began to look at his son's drawings and realize that Trent had amazing talent that could benefit his business and the world. Anton also realized he was trying to suppress a major part of who Trent was by taking that away and lifted his ban on drawing.

"I know, Dad, Dr. Oliver has been a big influence on me, I look at what he is how he strives to be and I want to be more like him."

A small smile played across Anton's features as Trent spoke; he couldn't have picked a better person for Trent to look up to than Tommy. Granted, at times, Tommy's lack of any real ego rubbed him the wrong way but that was beside the point. Tommy was a great person and Anton was sure he would be a great father when he did have a wife and children of his own, both of which he was convinced would come Tommy's way soon.

* * *

Tommy woke the next morning before his alarm, but considering he had fallen asleep really early that was no surprise. He looked at the clock and realized he had slept nearly twelve hours which he hadn't done since he was in high school.

He got up, got dressed, headed downstairs to make coffee and get ready to start a new day. He honestly had to admit he felt better than he had in a couple of days and he attributed it to the amount of sleep he had gotten that night. He had been seriously depriving himself of sleep and that was just making him feel miserable. He knew the signs of sleep deprivation as a ranger he had been sleep deprived more than once in that career along with his college days, sleep deprivation was common especially when he started into his working towards his master's degree and on into his doctorate.

He got downstairs and realized that he was either all by himself in the house or the first one awake, once again given when he fell asleep the latter wouldn't be a surprise. He went into the kitchen and started to make coffee. He was surprised to find all he had to do was turn it on. The pot was already fixed and ready to go. That must have been Hayley's idea. He shook his head trying to figure out if he had really gotten his butt handed to him by Jason or if he had dreamed the entire thing. He continued to ponder that for several minutes until the guest bathroom opened and his old friend came out looking as though he wasn't quite awake and Tommy knew the events of the evening before were all too real.

"Morning, Tommy." Jason said still waking up.

"Hey, good to see you," Tommy replied.

"You too, but trust me bro, next time I have to come out here to knock some sense into your ass you really aren't going to like it." Jason replied now more awake.

"I feel like such an idiot for that." Tommy admitted, "You would think I would know better than to do that to myself"

"When someone you care about is hurting logic goes straight out the window." Jason said as the coffee finished brewing and they each got their first cup of the morning.

"Remember when we thought this crap was disgusting and vowed we'd never drink it." Jason laughed before taking a sip of coffee.

"A lot of college all-nighters quickly changed my mind about it." Tommy admitted.

"Same here," Jason agreed as Hayley entered the room.

"Glad to see you two are still getting along after last night."

"Hayley you have no idea how much history we have a little scuffle like that won't change anything." Jason said as Tommy handed Hayley a fresh cup of coffee.

"Kira called after you went to bed last night, she's doing better and glad to hear you were sleeping." Hayley added taking sip of coffee she wasn't surprised to find that it was perfect for her. Tommy was one of the few people in the world that knew how she liked her coffee.

"That's good, so she could be coming home soon" Jason said then looked at Tommy, he knew that look, there was something eating at Tommy.

"Bro, what's wrong?"

"I just had a thought, the bills from the hospital…" Tommy didn't need to finish that sentence Jason knew exactly what was on his friend's mind.

"We'll figure something out, Tommy, you know that."

"Yeah, hopefully," Tommy sighed

To Be Continued…


	11. Chapter 11

Trent walked into the hospital to visit Kira after school. He still slightly surprised by what his father was doing but sworn to secrecy about it. He went to the security counter, gave them his driver's license and told them which room he wanted to go visit, he was allowed up without question and soon went in to see Kira was asleep. He took the chair to wait for her to wake up.

'If only you knew what my father decided to do' Trent thought as he pulled out his sketchbook and began to idly draw her laying there looking so peaceful in sleep.

Kira woke up a bit later and saw the sketchbook in Trent's lap.

"Trent, please tell me you didn't just draw me in a hospital bed." She said adjusting herself in bed.

"I couldn't resist, you looked so peaceful." Trent replied.

"Just do me a favor, don't use that one in your portfolio." Kira teased.

"I won't, I promise." Trent agreed, "Oh Dr. Oliver had a friend drop in, well I guess that isn't exactly true, Hayley did call him in."

"Wait back up, what happened, from the beginning. I know when I called at seven last night he was asleep but I don't know anything from before then."

"Well you know how Dr. Oliver has been going on so little sleep the past couple of days, Hayley got sick of him not caring for himself and called a former red ranger in to deal with the situation, Jason Lee Scott."

"No way… and what happened."

"Jason apparently went into the command center and saw that Tommy had resorted to highly caffeinated drinks, usually energy shots, to keep awake and it seems that he didn't like this." Trent smirked "When we got in they were in a fight, and Dr. Oliver was not winning, Jason was."

"Wow; that is just crazy." Kira said in surprise. They were used to Tommy being almost invincible and it was easy to come to that conclusion when he was the best fighter on the team.

"Dr. Oliver finally went to bed and Jason has taken over mentor duties for a while. It takes some worry from Tommy until we're all back on our feet."

"I hate that I missed that." Kira replied.

"I'm sure Conner or Ethan would be happy to fill you in." Trent said with a smile.

Kira sighed she hated that she had missed out on so much since she was hospitalized, but she felt so much better now. They weren't predicting that Kira would be in there for much longer as with the extra medication and support she seemed to be recovering quickly from the illness

"So what is Jason like?" Kira asked.

"I'm not sure we've only spend a few hours with him." Trent admitted, "Seems great so far."

Trent looked up as someone knocked on the open door.

"Hi Jason," Trent said "Jason, this is Kira, Kira, this is Jason."

"Hi, good to meet you," Kira said, honestly she had hoped to wait until she was out of the hospital to meet Jason but she figured this was as good a time as any.

"Hey, let me guess you're in a hurry to get out of here." Jason said a knowing smile on his face.

"Yeah, I'm getting really bored here." Kira admitted.

"Why didn't you say something? I would have brought you something to do." Trent said slightly surprised that Kira had kept that a secret.

"I don't know," Kira admitted. She wasn't sure why she hadn't said anything to the other rangers about her boredom, she just hadn't.

"I need you to do me a huge favor, make sure my songbook is hidden away, I'm working on a surprise for Dr. O's birthday and I don't want him to see it too soon." Kira said.

"I've got it here, you left it at Hayley's before you got sick and I kept it since you kind of already told me about the surprise for Dr. Oliver." Trent pulled the notebook out of his backpack.

"I did?" Kira said in surprise.

"Yeah, when you started the project," Trent replied.

"Oh, yeah I did, so you've kept my songbook this whole time?" Kira was slightly surprised by this. She had wondered what had happened to the book but by the time she had realized it was gone she was in no condition to sing or work on her latest project.

"Yeah, I looked over what you have so far it looks great, had to guess at the melody but I'm sure you have something amazing planned for it."

Kira looked to Jason.

"Could you please keep this a secret?" Kira asked.

"Of course, I'd never ruin a birthday present." Jason promised.

"Thanks, if I was feeling better I might give you a sneak peak of what I have so far but I really don't think the doctors want me singing just yet."

"Excuse me," a female voice said.

"Oh, excuse me…" Jason replied and stepped out of the woman's way then suddenly realized who he was looking at.

"Trini…?"

The woman looked at him and erased all doubt in Jason's mind.

"Jason…"

"I didn't know you worked in a hospital." Jason said in surprise.

"I didn't know you were in town." Trini shot back equally surprised.

"I thought I recognized you." Kira said in shock. "Trini Kwan, right?"

"Yes, how did you know that?"

"Tommy Oliver was my teacher and now my legal guardian."

"Tommy, as in…"

"Yep, our high-school classmate; and the white ranger" Jason said the last part quitter than the first.

"Jason, our secret…"

"Oh... we're rangers too." Kira quickly said holding up her wrist to show the bracelet then activated it to morpher mode, Trent did the same, "I'm the Dino Thunder yellow, and Trent is our white ranger."

Trini let out a breath; she should have known Jason wouldn't tell just anybody their secrets. She went to giving Kira the medication knowing now that she was treating a fellow ranger and became more concerned about her teammates getting along without her presence in the team. She had so many questions but she would wait until her break to come and talk to Kira about her team and see if she knew exactly how they were coping to being a ranger short due to her presence in the hospital.

Trini left the room after administering the medication and found that she couldn't get back until she actually clocked out that evening. When she got there Trent was no longer present; instead a man with dark brown, almost black spikey hair. She knocked on the open door as she did the last time she came in and the man turned.

Trini's jaw dropped there was no doubt in her mind who this was.

"Tommy…?!"

"Trini…?" Tommy seemed to be as shocked as she was.

Trini could tell Tommy wasn't exactly as she remembered him, so much had happened to him over the past few years. She knew about what happened between him and Kimberly, she also had some idea what happened between him and Kat even though he had played that one extremely close to his chest; Trini knew Kat had hurt him she just didn't know how her former teammate had been hurt. Tommy embraced her and she found he was as rock solid as he had ever been. She returned the embrace happy to see an old friend again.

"Do you know?" she asked alluding to the new rangers.

"Yeah, it's a long story, I can't tell you here." He whispered to her.

"Okay, I'm off where can we meet to talk." She asked as the embrace broke.

"I'll give you my address we can meet there and talk." Tommy said

"That sounds good."

**To Be Continued…**


	12. Chapter 12

Trini arrived at Tommy's home that evening and was surprised by how remote it was. No wonder she didn't know he lived in Reefside he lived in the middle of the woods.

Tommy met Trini on the porch and invited her inside.

"What's going on that we couldn't talk about at the hospital?" Trini asked in confusion then noticed the morpher that had appeared on Tommy's wrist since she saw him last.

"No… Tommy, not you… not again…" she said. Her heart had sunk into her stomach at the sight of that item on Tommy's wrist, after all these years he had been pulled back into the war against evil. All that fight had done to him body, mind and spirit and he just couldn't escape it no matter how hard it seemed he tried.

"Yeah, I'm a ranger again, I started thinking I'd only be a mentor but the gem had other ideas." He started deeper into the house and she followed him.

"The gem…" Trini said as she turned to him. "Tommy, I'm confused, back up and explain everything."

Tommy told Trini the story of the dino gems as they went into the living room and took seats. He didn't tell Trini that Trent had started out as an evil ranger; truth was he practically didn't have to. Trini had suspicions about Trent from the moment she lay eyes on him. She had seen the aftermath of being turned evil when they were younger than the current rangers were and those signs were all too visible in Trent's eyes.

"So the gems chose who they want to be rangers, you didn't choose any of the rangers."

"Right," Tommy sighed, "The black one just happened to choose me."

"What of the white gem, you never said how Trent ended up with that gem."

Tommy sighed and stood turning his back to Trini, wringing his hands.

"Every time I hear this story I pray it's the last time I'll hear it, to date that prayer hasn't been answered." He replied his hands falling to his sides.

"He was evil wasn't he?" she asked as she stood. She knew that every ranger that was ever turned against those they cared about said that same prayer, that no other ranger would have to see the pain they did, and it was a prayer that never got a good answer as it kept happening to these teenagers. Then again the past rangers also prayed for a day that there would no longer be a need for power rangers, but that prayer got the same results.

"Yeah," Tommy sighed his expression suddenly darkening as he turned around and made eye contact with Trini again, "It was bad Tri, it took weeks for the power to take full control of him so when he was morphed he was evil, unmorphed he was still the good person he always was. I had it bad as green ranger but… but Trent had it ten times worse than I ever did." Tommy turned away Trini could see the sorrow in Tommy's expression. It resonated in those chocolate brown eyes that always showed his state of mind so vividly. She remembered him saying he would never wish his experience as green ranger on anybody and realizing that Trent's experience as an evil ranger was worse than that seemed to upset him greatly.

"Trent didn't deserve an experience like that... no one does." Tommy continued. "He's said that it was an experience he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy, and if it's half as bad as what he said I'm inclined to agree with him. No one should ever have to endure that."

Trini's hand went to her mouth in shock, she couldn't even imagine what he went through and if she were honest with herself she didn't want to.

"He was doing well for a while, for a minute I thought it might never fully take, but the fight was just too much, he eventually got so exhausted that he couldn't fight it anymore and the evil took control." Tommy explained.

"How is he doing now?" Trini asked obviously just as worried about Trent's mental state as she was his physical health.

"He's… He's doing better than I would have, and I'm not ashamed to admit it." Tommy admitted honestly "I'm impressed with all four of them Trini… Zordon couldn't have picked a better team" his voice lightening as he thinks about things "Kind of wish I could say I picked them." There was a slight chuckle in his voice as he admitted to his desire to say that he really had more of a hand in choosing his rangers than he actually did.

"I'll bet you do." There was a slight laugh in Trini's voice "You sound like you're talking about your own flesh and blood children you realize that right?"

The front door opened before Tommy could forma reply to that last observation and Trini looked concerned.

"Were you expecting anyone?" she asked going defensive.

"Yes, our technical advisor, Hayley, we found a glitch in the city scanner so she's going to work on it," he replied

Hayley entered the room and Trini relaxed.

"I didn't know you had company, I'll..." Hayley started to walk back out of the house but Tommy stopped her.

"Hayley, this is Trini, don't worry, she knows everything." Tommy said.

"Trini, as in the original yellow ranger…?" Hayley wondered, fairly certain she was right but she still had to ask the question.

"Yes, that's me, good to meet you, Hayley" Trini smiled.

"You too," Hayley replied.

Hayley started to the command center.

Trini turned to Tommy; she wanted to see the command center but didn't know if he was willing to show it off to her.

"Let's head down there, the guys should be here soon and they have started using the command center entrance these days." Tommy explained and they headed downstairs.

Trini was stunned by what she saw the room seemed like a blend of the natural and manmade. It was a great space for the rangers to come together and she had a feeling they came there just to hang out since it was so easily accessed. She knew Tommy well enough to know he probably didn't mind his team dropping in from time to time, more likely he welcomed them. He spoke of them with the pride and affection of a father. She knew that he had taken the yellow ranger in as he was listed as her guardian in all of her paperwork, which she looked through after finding out she was a ranger. In the back of Trini's mind she thought that Tommy would one day make a great father, and that it would be a shame if he never got to raise children of his own.

Suddenly the back wall opened and three teenage boys entered the room with Jason.

Two of the boys looked shocked and understandably on edge at seeing Trini in the command center. Trent recognized her and knew she was a veteran ranger.

Jason put his hand on the shoulder of the one she could only assume was the red ranger.

"That's Trini, she was our Yellow ranger," he explained and a sudden flash of recognition colored the boys' features and she remembered the video Kira had mentioned and figured that was the reason, once the name and color were placed with the face the boys settled down.

"That's Conner and Ethan, the red and blue rangers respectively." Tommy said as the boys joined him. He indicated which one was which as he spoke.

"It's good to meet you." Trini replied.

"Dr. Oliver, I need to speak with you… alone." Trent said his expression and tone sent up red flags in all three present veteran rangers.

Tommy followed Trent and they went outside.

"Trent, what's going on?" Tommy asked obviously extremely unsettled by the fact that Trent didn't want to speak of this in front of the other rangers.

"I… I don't think you're aware of this but… Kira has been having a lot of nightmares the past few days… I don't understand why they are just coming up now. I think she had them before but because of her mom's influence she just hasn't said anything to us."

"You're right I didn't know." Tommy sighed his heart had dropped to his stomach as Trent spoke. "Thanks for letting me know, I've told Kira before that she can come to me with anything, but… the old habits are going to take time to break with her… her mom had a really negative influence on her and we may never be able to repair all the damage that was done to Kira..."

Trent didn't seem to like this statement, but he knew Tommy was right, Kira's mother had been a heavy drinker for the better part of a decade and in that time a lot of damage was done to Kira.

**To Be Continued…**


	13. Chapter 13

Tommy had to report to Paige when Kira got sick then again when she was hospitalized and he had an irrational fear that he was going to lose her. Paige assured him that because this was obviously not his fault they had no reason to suspect him of foul play or take Kira from him. In the given circumstances the fact that she was in the hospital meant that he was parent enough to know when to say things were out of his capabilities and when doctors and hospitals were required.

"Dr. Oliver, I'm actually glad to hear you took her in to the ER when her breathing got so bad, it just tells me that you're being a very good parent." Paige admitted over the phone. She had called him back as soon as she found the memo that Kira was in the hospital.

_"__I've coped pretty well, but time will tell how everything goes. There is one thing I have vowed to her before I ever took her in."_

"What is that?"

_"__That I'd never turn my back on her,"_ he replied simply. _"I made that promise to her when I found out that she had issues between her and her mom. I had hoped they could find peace but as we saw__…"_

"That didn't happen," Paige finished "I have to admit Kira is a lucky young woman." She sighs, "I really wish I could say that there were more cases like hers that turned out this good, but… her happy ending is a sadly extremely rare."

_"__I know; I stepped in because I couldn't accept the alternative__… __I couldn't make her go through that in her condition when I had the space to take her into my home. I felt like turning her away would be the equivalent of me turning my back on her and I worked too long and hard to earn her trust to do that to her, it would be like throwing that trust away with both hands and I'd never get it back. She'd never trust me again and that trust__… __that trust means everything to me." He explained._

"I knew from the moment the two of you walked through that door you loved her like she was your own and that… that was what she needed from you. You gave her the emotional support she probably wouldn't find anywhere else." Paige replied and that was the truth. She got off the phone with Tommy as her sister; Piper entered the room with her son, Chris.

"Who was that?"

"That was the foster father of a young woman who had a really rough time of it."

"Oh, what happened?" Piper asked as she put her son, Chris into the playpen and came to sit with her sister.

"Her father walked out of her life when she was seven years old and her mother decided to drown her problems in a bottle instead of taking care of her daughter." Paige explained, "A couple months ago her mother came home wasted and punched her daughter in the face."

"So how did she end up with this man?" Piper asked not sure how things led to where they currently were.

"He was her science teacher and involved in reporting the incident. He had some idea what was going on to begin with as he was her confidant." Paige sighed, "when he found out the situation we had that she would end up in an orphanage he volunteered to take her in and has cared for her ever since." She placed the phone on the table. "He went from bachelor to father overnight with seemingly no regrets. I must admit he's a special man"

"I agree, I can't think of many people that would do something like that." Piper agreed.

"Yeah the world needs more people like him."

Tommy arrived at the hospital after school that Thursday and found Kira working on some homework Trent had brought her. The school was working with them since she was in the hospital and obviously could not attend school for an indeterminate amount of time. Nobody wanted her to have to repeat her senior year because she got sick.

Trini met Tommy on the way in; she was on break, the look on her face told Tommy she was barely holding in some kind of good news.

"Trini, what's going on?" he asked.

"I think Kira needs to tell you that." Trini said cryptically, her smile wide.

Tommy got up to Kira's room and found her relaxed in bed this made him confused.

"Kira what's going on, Trini couldn't seem to contain herself."

"I could be coming home as early as tomorrow." She replied sitting up in bed.

Tommy smiled in relief he was glad to hear that she was doing well enough to go home. It seemed like she had been there for far longer than she actually had been and getting out of the hospital was a step towards getting back to normal, a bit of news he welcomed.

"This is great, how do you feel about it?" he asked as he sat in the chair by her bed leaning his elbows on his knees.

"Like it couldn't come soon enough," She replied "This is a hospital and I'd much rather be at home in my own bed… have you ever stayed in a hospital? If you have you know that hospital beds are never as comfortable as the ones you have at home."

"I know what you mean," he sighed "A few days after I lost the green ranger powers the first time my appendix went, not an experience I'd wish on anyone. I didn't tell any of my old team mates what happened… not even Jason knows what happened during the time I was gone."

"What happened, Tommy?"

To Tommy's credit, his shock at the sound of Jason's voice didn't send him completely out of his chair.

"Okay Tommy, now what was this about a secret you kept from us?" Jason asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"Jase you know me… I just didn't feel like worrying you guys." Tommy shrugged then repeated what he told Kira about what he went through after losing the green ranger powers the first time.

"The girls are going to have a field day on this, Tommy and they need to know what happened while you were away. We all wondered why you didn't contact us after that, we were worried that we had done something wrong." Jason sighed rubbing his face with his hands.

Tommy sighed pinching the bridge of his nose, he had a feeling Kimberly would jump down his throat for this with every right to do so. Trini and Billy would be more hurt but they would most likely understand why he said nothing of the situation. Zack and Jason were the closest guys to him and might point out that the team would have wanted to be there for him as he recovered from surgery. They didn't see him without a shirt very often after that and the scar was minimal so no one ever said anything.

"I'll put the word out about what happened, but the point of that seems a little moot now, I'm just going to get chewed out by some of them, and you know that." Tommy pointed out.

"Yeah, just be glad Aisha wasn't part of the team back then."

Tommy winced visibly at the mention of the outspoken second yellow.

"Why do you say that?" Kira asked.

"Where do we even start?" Jason wondered he didn't know Aisha personally but he had heard enough about her to know she was not shy with her opinions.

"Kira, Aisha is a bold personality and trust me she would run me through the ringer for keeping my medical condition a secret from my friends and teammates. She might do it anyway, I don't know." Tommy admitted. "Granted she'd have a good point, I really didn't have to face that whole ordeal by myself, I just wasn't used to having people to turn to back then… before these guys I'd… I'd kind of been a bit of a loner if you can believe it."

"I'd kind of like to meet her one day." Kira commented.

"You just might get your chance." Jason sighed, "Though, I see no reason to bring her, Rocky and Adam into this, they weren't around when this happened."

Tommy gave a relieved sigh; that was dodging a major bullet.

"Like you said this is all moot now, we might as well not say anything to the others about this unless you want to"

Tommy nodded and sighed he couldn't wait until Kira was out of the hospital.

To Be Continued…


	14. Chapter 14

Kira stepped out of the bathroom fully dressed to leave the hospital; she was looking forward to going home after being in the hospital for nearly a week.

Tommy looked up from signing the paperwork as she entered the room. It felt good to be able to take her home after fretting about her being in the hospital for what felt like far too long.

"So how does it feel to be coming home after all of this?" he asked.

"Good," she replied "Not that the people weren't nice here, it's just… not home."

"I know what you mean." He replied with a smile as he finished his part of the paperwork to get her out of the hospital.

Kira took a seat on the edge of the bed to wait for final word on when she could leave. It felt like forever since she was home and the thought of sleeping in her own bed for a change sounded better by the minute. Tommy had gone out to inquire about when he would need to pay and how much it might cost. She sighed letting her mind wander to the birthday song she was writing for Tommy.

"Sir, the person in question asked to remain anonymous but thanks to this person you owe this hospital absolutely nothing according to our paperwork." The nurse was apparently repeating herself because it seemed Tommy didn't believe her the first time. Kira had to admit that the fact that every dime of her hospital bill was paid was shocking to her as well. She wondered who would have done this for them, the real question was more along the lines of who did they know that had the financial ability to pay that kind of money all at once without a second thought.

They started out of the building.

"Wow… that was… shocking" she admitted slightly speechless as they got into the jeep.

"No kidding." Tommy replied getting into the driver's seat looking just as blown away as he had when the news was first handed to him. "I'm just trying to figure out who could have done this. I don't know that many people who would have enough disposable income to pay these bills."

"I think I know who it could have been." Kira said.

"Who…?" Tommy asked

"Dr. Mercer," Kira replied "Think about it… you two were good friends and he's one of the few people I can think of that would possibly make enough put out that much at one time and not suffer from it."

Tommy wanted to argue that there was no way Anton would shell out that kind of money for him but the more he thought about it the more that idea seemed plausible.

"Yeah, you're probably right," he conceded "but why?"

"You two were friends; maybe it was just a gift to an old friend." Kira suggested "Think about it... he probably knows you would have a hard time paying this off and as your friend he could have easily decided that he would do it if you couldn't."

"You have a point." he replied "let's go home." Tommy put the jeep in gear and they were soon off.

"Best suggestion I've heard all day." she replied.

The other rangers were at Tommy's house when they arrived and Kira was shocked by the welcome she got. She was still wrapping her head around the idea of this being her home and she loved it.

Trent pulled Kira aside for a moment.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you okay." he said as he embraced her. "I was so worried about you"

Kira was shocked by this but returned the embrace anyway.

Tommy quickly realized what was going on and, with Hayley's help, got Conner and Ethan to go down to the command center with them.

"Kira..." Trent put Kira and arms distance so he could look her in the eye "… I... I just... give me a second..." Trent sighed and took a deep breath.

"In the last few days I came to a conclusion that shocked even me," he admitted.

"What was that?" she asked.

"I... I love you"

Kira was speechless she had a crush on Trent from the day they met and to hear this from him was shocking.

"I... understand if you don't feel the same way about me... I just had to say that to you."

Without a word Kira suddenly kissed Trent on the lips, it was just a small kiss but it was enough to tell Trent her answer and he replied with a bold kiss of his own.

This was all new to them but because of everything that happened they now knew that they had a chance to love each other the way they would have never had if it weren't for Tommy opening his home to Kira so she could remain with the people she loved.

The End...


	15. Epilogue

Disclaimer: Don't own "My Hero is You" by Hayden Panettiere

* * *

A week passed since Kira got out of the hospital and somewhere in there Tommy's birthday came and went without her planned performance as she had not been cleared to perform yet. She sighed and decided to go the 'better late than never' route and put it in her next set.

The day came and Kira's stomach was tied in knots, she hadn't been so nervous about debuting a new song in years. She switched from the electric guitar she had used on her last song to the acoustic one she would use in this piece.

"Before I start my new piece I want to preface it with a message. As a lot of you know my life has gone through a lot of turbulence and… through all of that there has been one person who has always been there to remind me that I wasn't alone, that someone cared about me. He has been like a father and I don't even want to imagine what would have become of me without him in my life. A lot of you know him, some of you call him Dr. Oliver, others Dr. O, but to me he's family so I often call him Tommy. I wrote this song with the intention of performing it on his birthday as my gift, but I was sick so I hope you don't mind it's late."

She could hear her audience laugh slightly at that statement and noticed the shocked and confused look on Tommy's face, he had been clueless about this.

"So this is my new song, My Hero is You,"

The intro started slow with mostly just the acoustic guitar.

_Mmmm, yeah_

_You know I try to be  
all that I can  
but there's a part of me  
I still don't understand_

The audience just listened and Tommy could tell this wasn't like anything she had wrote in the past, it came from a different place than those songs.

_Why do I only see  
what I don't have  
when my reality  
its things are not that bad_

_Your faith has shown me that_

_The song built quickly into the chorus_

_When my world goes crazy  
you won't let go  
when the ground gets shaky  
you give me hope  
when I try to push you away  
you never move, yeah_

_Now when I start doubting  
you help me see  
there's a strength and a mind and a power in me  
oh believe and there ain't nothing I can't do  
my hero is you, yeah  
my hero is you._

Hayley put her hand on Tommy's arm as the song continued through the chorus. She could see everything coming together in Tommy's mind.

_I never saw the way  
you sacrificed  
who knew the price you paid  
how can I make it right?  
I know I've got to try_

_When my world goes crazy  
you won't let go  
when the ground gets shaky you give me hope  
when I try to push you away  
you never move_

_Now when I start doubting  
you help me see  
there's a strength and a mind and a power in me  
you believe and there ain't nothing I can't do.  
My hero is you, yeah_

_And I hope that you can see  
you're everything that I wanna be_

Those words hit Tommy like a freight train, he had never really considered what he did as being that big a deal to the rangers, but apparently they saw it otherwise. Kira saw it otherwise because here she was professing it for others to hear.

_When my world goes crazy  
you won't let go  
when the ground gets shaky you give me hope  
when I try to push you away  
you never move_

_Now when I start doubting  
You help me see  
__There's a strength, and a mind, and a power in me  
__Oh believe me there ain't nothing I can't do  
__My hero is you, yeah,_

_My hero is you_

_My hero is you_

After the song Kira stepped off stage and walked over to hug him.

"Thank you, for everything." She said.

"I'll always be here for you." He promised.

After the concert the final documents when through that made it so, legally, Tommy was her father. Sure they had agreed that she would never call him 'dad' that just seemed a little too weird, but she had admitted something that took him aback. She had told him that, if she were younger she would have happily changed her last name, dropped her deadbeat father's surname to take Oliver in its place. He had told her from the beginning she could keep her name as it was as did the judge that signed the final paperwork and as far as he knew she had because he had said it was completely up to her what she did with her name because she was the one to have to live with it.

When they got home that evening he looked over the paperwork and gasped in shock, she had done something he never dreamed of, in the places where she was to write out what she wanted her legal name to be she had written it out "Kira Elizabeth Ford-Oliver" she hadn't dropped the Ford name because she was locally famous under that name but she had taken a compromise that acknowledged the huge change in her life. He sat there looking at the handwriting he had come to know so well as it spelled out the last thing he had dreamed would happen. He let a sigh escape as the gravity of this hit him. Their lives would never be the same, but maybe that wasn't a bad thing, change was good. He had heard her mention it and thought it was just a consideration so he really didn't look at how she put her name when he had signed his own to the documents, at her age he figured what she wanted her name to be was her decision and she was old enough to make an informed decision on the situation.

She came downstairs and noticed the shocked look on his face.

"You noticed didn't you?" she asked

"Yeah… and… and I'm flattered but Kira… you didn't have to do this."

"I know… but Tommy think about it, my father, or excuse me the man that should have been my father, means nothing to me… hasn't in a very long time… you've been more of a father than he ever was. Where has he been my whole life… I don't know… and to be honest at this point I really don't care… I have a father that loves me… that is here for me and that is why I did what I did. Had I not become famous locally I probably would have dropped his last name all together."

Tommy hugged her as he had no words to express what he was feeling, what she had said hit him harder than he ever imagined it would, they might not have a lot but they were family and that was all that mattered.

The End


End file.
